Badminton chiefs sorry over schedule change
World badminton chiefs were forced to apologise on Friday for making sweeping changes to the Olympic badminton playing schedule, just a day before the event was due to start.
World badminton chiefs were forced to apologise on Friday for making sweeping changes to the Olympic badminton playing schedule, just a day before the event was due to start.
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The World Badminton Federation (WBF) admitted their original plans, released on Wednesday, did not follow competition regulations regarding the correct sequence of matches.
"The top-ranked player in a group shall play the lowest-ranked player first and the second-ranked player last in the group matches," said a statement signed by BWF technical delegate Pisaqn Rangsikitpho and tournament referee Torsten Berg.
"As the IOC required the application of this sequence when the group play was accepted in the Olympic Games regulations for the badminton competition, it was decided to revise the playing schedule accordingly.
"We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this change."
The changes mean tworld champion mixed doubles duo Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei of China, who had been expecting to start against Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier on Sunday, will now not play the British pair until Tuesday.
Instead they will start their round-robin on Saturday against German duo Michael Fuchs and Birgit Michels.