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Eight players have been disqualified from the badminton competition for trying to lose. Yep, lose.
But here's the catch: They all had already "qualified" for the Elimination Bracket which really means Loser's Bracket. However, they weren't there yet -- they still had to play some games. And here is the key for the player: The worse your win/loss record was once you got there, the crappier your opponent would be.
So lose? Absolutely. Makes perfect sense to me. Do you want to win and face the #2 seed or lose and face the #6 seed. No brainer.
But then it dawned on me that the "worse" player might not be the actual "worse" player because that player was probably trying to throw games, too. Up is down. Down is up. Cats chasing dogs.
P.S. I'm a fantastic badminton player. If I had pursued it, I'd be known as the John McEnroe of the sport, and birdie manufacturers would probably beg me to license my name to them. Oh, what might have been.
