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| Chinese badminton player Chen Qingchen, left, hits a shot next to teammate Jia Yifan in their women's doubles badminton semi-final match against Korea's Kong Hee-yong and Kim So-yeong, at the Tokyo Olympics at Musashino Forest Plaza in Tokyo, July 31. AP-Yonhap |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Korea's badminton body has filed a complaint with the World Badminton Federation (WBF) over Chinese player Chen Qingchen's profuse swearing during a women's doubles match against Korea.
The Badminton Korea Association has decided to bring the case to the WBF instead of the International Organizing Committee, as the latter does not have rules against swearing during games.
However, the WBF's code of conduct states that athletes should not use words "commonly known and understood in any language to be profane or indecent and uttered clearly and loudly enough to be heard by the umpire or spectators."
Throughout the women's doubles match against Korea's Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong on July 27, Chen was heard shouting "cao," a Mandarin expletive. She repeated the word relentlessly after she and her partner, Jia Yifan, lost the first set to the Korean players and even after scoring. China defeated Korea by the score of 2-1.
As the Olympics were held without any audience, Chen's comments were heard clearly throughout the live broadcast.
After Tuesday's match, Chen apologized for any misunderstanding or offense her comment may have had.
"It was just a self-encouragement for scoring," Chen posted on her Weibo account. "I didn't expect my bad pronunciation to cause any misunderstandings for anyone. I will also adjust my pronunciation." However, it remains unclear what she had meant to say instead.
Chen was heard swearing loudly using the term, "cao," again when the Chinese duo competed against the Korean pair in the semifinal match on July 31.
China beat Korea 2-0. However, Chen and her partner lost to Indonesia's Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahyu in the final, taking the silver medal in the event.
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