The women’s tournament descended into farce in the evening session as four pairs all appeared to try to lose their matches in order to secure a favorable draw in the next round.

The top seeds from China, two pairs from South Korea and another from Indonesia have been disqualified from the tournament and will take no part in this evening’s quarter-finals.

There were boos from the Wembley Arena crowd as the world class athletes repeatedly put serves into the net and failed to return simple shots on an embarrassing evening for the sport.

The Badminton World Federation immediately launched disciplinary proceedings, confirming all four pairs would face 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’.