Spectators at the Wembley Arena badminton venue booed Tuesday when doubles players from China, Indonesia and South Korea appeared to lose on purpose to secure a better draw in the later rounds. The doubles players from China are the reigning world champions.
Meantime, after five days of waiting, Britain finally won its first gold medal of the 2012 London Olympics when Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won the women's pair competition in rowing Wednesday.
The pair took a large early lead and held off a late surge from Australia to win the gold medal in front of tens of thousands of cheering spectators, including Princes William and Harry, at Dorney Lake. It is the first Olympic gold medal ever won by a British women's crew.
The victory caps a dominating season performance for Glover and Stanning, who set an Olympic record in their preliminary heat, and were undefeated in World Cup races this year. New Zealand came in third behind Australia to take the bronze medal.
British cyclist Bradley Wiggins hoped to win another gold for the host nation Wednesday in the men's individual time trial race. A gold, silver or bronze would make Wiggins Britain's all-time Olympic medalist with a total of seven, one more than rower Steve Redgrave. It would also highlight a brilliant season in which he became the first Briton to win the prestigious Tour de France.
Wiggins's main competition will come from defending champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland and compatriot Chris Froome, the Tour de France runner up.
In men's swimming, Australian James "The Missile" Magnussen will take on Brazilian world record holder Cesar Cielo and six other rivals in the men's 100-meter freestyle race. Magnussen is looking to redeem himself after he and his teammates finished in an embarrassing fourth place in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay race.
At the Wimbledon tennis courts, Switzerland's Roger Federer, Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Britain's Andy Murray will compete in the third round of the men's singles event, while the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, join forces in the third round of the women's doubles quarterfinals.
Japanese gymnast Kohei Uchimura is favored to take home the gold in the men's individual all-around event.
The United States and China lead the overall medal count with 23. France and Japan are tied for a distant third place with 12. China leads with 13 gold medals to the American's nine.
