Source:REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff
[Saba Sports News] Indonesian badminton star Taufik Hidayat revealed shocking insider information in an interview with Indonesian newspaper “Metropolitan Daily,” stating that on the eve of the men’s singles semifinals at the 2006 Doha Asian Games, a Malaysian official asked him to “throw” his match against Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei. The official claimed he was willing to offer double the Indonesian government’s promised gold medal bonus, amounting to 400 million Indonesian rupiah. However, Taufik did not accept this “deal,” defeating Lee Chong Wei in straight sets in the semifinals and also beating Lin Dan in the finals with a score of 2-0 to win the gold medal. Malaysian media “New Straits Times” later followed up with Lee Chong Wei, who stated that he was previously unaware of the matter. After learning about the news, he immediately called his friend Taufik, revealing that he knew the official, who was a former Malaysian national team player, but he would not name anyone because the incident happened long ago. In response, some fans indicated that such situations imply that gambling groups manipulate match results behind the scenes for maximum profit.