BWF SuspensIon On 2 Malaysian Shuttlers For Match-fixing Justified - Minister

REMBAU (Negeri Sembilan), May 4 (Bernama) – Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has described as justified, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) move to suspend Malaysian players Zulfadli Zulkiffli and Tan Chun Seang for match-fixing and from joining any badminton competition. He said if both players were found guilty (of the offence), then harsher punishment should be given. “When it comes to corruption in sports, such as match-fixing and so on, I think this is the right decision because if there is strong evidence against them, they must be punished with heavy penalties, but there is still room for appeal. “It is up to them to appeal, but we at the Youth and Sports Ministry do not compromise when comes to match-fixing,” he said this when met by reporters here Thursday. Khairy said this in commenting on the BWF’s decision to suspend Zulfadli and Chun Seang from competing for 20 and 15 years, respectively, for breaching the BWF Code of Conduct in relation to betting and determining the results of the match. Their suspension came into effect on Jan 12 this year, the date when the two players were conditionally suspended by BWF. Apart from being suspended, Chun Seang was also fined US$15,000 (RM59,000), while Zulfadli was fined US$25,000 (RM98,000) by the BWF Ethics Hearing Panel. -- BERNAMA