Yu Yang, the Chinese badminton player investigated for match throwing during the 2012 Olympic games, has announced her decision to quit the sport.
Yang posted the news of her retirement on the micro-blogging site Tencent Weibo, a Twitter-esque social media site, saying the Badminton World Federation (BWF) had "ruthlessly shattered" her dreams. But the Olympian and her partner Wang Xiaoli have apologised on Chinese state television, saying they had disappointed their fans by not demonstrating their skills during the match.
Yang also attributed a knee injury to her and her team mate's decision to try and throw the match during the round-robin stage.
Yu Yang (front) has said she will be quitting the sport
Posting on her account, Yang announced: "This is my last race. Goodbye to the IBF, goodbye my love for badminton."
Translation provided via Google
The athlete also responded to a post by Chinese news reporter Zhang Nan, who said Wang Xiaoli had injured her right knee just before Tuesday's game and her injury was the reason why the pair had not put any effort into the game.
Yang replied to Nan's revelation, which was posted before the BWF's disqualification decision, saying: "Tomorrow and then on to the playoffs, we only have so little time to adjust. Whatever the outcome we will go all out, I hope the fans and friends will understand our state."
After the BWF's announcement the disciplinary committee's decision to disqualify the pair would be upheld, Yang defended the duo's decision to perform poorly, writing:
"We are only injured, just choose to use the rules to abandon the race. Just for the next knockout of the second phase of the fight better.
"Hard with injuries to prepare for the four years that cancel our eligibility. You ruthlessly shattered our dreams."
But she then added: "It is that simple, less complex, but is so unforgivable."
The pair have now apologised on national Chinese television for playing to lose.
The team's head coach Li Yongbo told a reporter:
"Most importantly, I think, is we didn't take each competition seriously and follow the Olympic spirit of 'higher, faster and stronger' as professional athletes. We did not fully understand the significance of it. I should apologise to the Chinese fans and audience because we didn't fully demonstrate the fighting spirit of the Chinese badminton team."
Yang echoed her coach's sentiments, saying: "We did not give the audience a game that fully demonstrated our skills and it resulted in a lot of negative influence."
The pair were already through to the quarter-finals but they, along with two pairs from South Korea and another from Indonesia, are facing charges of "not using one's best efforts to win a match" and "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport".
All the players were booed by an irate crowd on Tuesday night at the Wembley Arena as serves were deliberately hit into the net and shots hit wide and long on an embarrassing evening for the sport.
The BWF announced on Wednesday all eight players would be disqualified from the London Olympics.
A survey by another micro-blogging site Sina, showed the majority of Chinese supported the BWF's decision:
Infographic translated and provided by Beijing Cream
Yu Yang