The female players were from China, Indonesia and South Korea, and they kept purposely hitting the net and knocking the shuttlecock out of court to the deafening boos of the audience.

China’s coach Li Yongbo has already apologised, saying "It's me to blame" for his players’ performances. It’s believed they were playing tactically in the hope of getting an easier next round.

Li added, "As head coach, I owe the supporters of Chinese badminton and the Chinese TV audiences an apology.”

One of the players disqualified, Yu Yang, has written on social networking site Twitter, "This is my last time competing. Goodbye Badminton World Federation; goodbye beloved badminton."

In other Olympic news, yesterday was Team GB’s most successful day of the London games so far. Rowers Helen Glover and Heather Stanning broke Britain’s gold duck early on, winning the first women’s medal for rowing, and later in the afternoon Tour De France winner Bradley Wiggins took gold for the time trial event.

Wiggins also spoke out today after a cyclist was killed in a collision with an official Olympic media bus. He said that he will now push for helmet-wearing to become enforced law.

The driver of the bus has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

Elsewhere, Team GB’s Michael Jamieson won silver in the swimming pool, while Chris Froome also took a Bronze in the time trial event. Team GB’s football team also saw success, beating Uruguay to progress to the quarter finals, while comic relief was provided by London Mayor Boris Johnson, who got stuck mid-air while on a zip-line. Despite the jeers and laughs from the crowd below, he seemed to take it in good humour.