Eight badminton players from Indonesia have been handed severe penalties by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) for betting offences.
The players, who primarily competed in low level professional tournaments in Asia, had initially been suspended from playing competitively in January 2020 following reports from a whistleblower.
Three of the players have been banned for life for betting, match fixing and match manipulation, whilst the remaining five were found to have breached the BWF’s integrity regulations and were handed fines ranging from $3000 to £12,000 in addition to suspensions of between six and 12 years.
In a statement, the BWF said: “Three of them were found to have coordinated and organised others into being complicit in the behaviour and have been suspended from all badminton related activities for life.”
A Malaysian equipment supplier, whose brand was involved in athlete sponsorship, has also been banned from all badminton-related activities for life after it was revealed he had offered to pay players to manipulate and fix matches.
The Federation commented: “The BWF Integrity Unit had been investigating the individual for a number of years.
“Due to the nature of the breaches and this person’s access to and influence over players his company sponsored, the Independent Hearing Panel suspended the individual from badminton-related activities for life.”
The Indoensian players have 21 days to appeal the decision in the country’s Court of Arbitration for Sport.