Michael Regan / Getty Images

China's Yunlei Zhao and Qing Tian had been upset by a pair from Denmark. In past years badminton medals were awarded via a simple elimination tournament, but for these Olympics a group stage was added. Since the top-ranked (and now disqualified) Wang Xiaoli and Yang Yu had already qualified for the knockout stage, they were attempting to lose so as to get a lower seed not be stuck facing their highly-skilled teammates, Yunlei and Qing, in the elimination stage. The other squads followed suit. Everyone tried to lose to ensure an easier draw in the next round.