Badminton and Spiritual Rewards
By Clint Archer It was a sobering and humiliating punishment. While millions of onlookers watched in morbid fascination at the televised spectacle, the eight victims of the controversial verdict stood crestfallen and shell-shocked in disbelief. After the many years of effort and sacrifice, the countless hours of practice and training, the untold expense of sponsorship and support, four ladies’ doubles pairs were disqualified from the Olympic badminton finals for the crime of—wait for it—not trying hard enough. Badminton is generally perceived as a placid sport, not known for its drama. But the brouhaha of the “shuttlecock scandal” in the London Olympics in 2012 made history with a bizarre turn of events. Two ladies’ doubles teams from China, one from South Korea, and one from Indonesia were unceremoniously disqualified for, in the words of the Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, one Craig Reedie, “not using one’s best efforts to win a match.” The players had all clea...