The IOC is urging the Chinese, South Korean and Indonesian national Olympic committees to investigate the coaches of the badminton players who were disqualified for trying to lose matches.

"We have asked the NOCs to look into the entourage issue to see if there are questions to be answered there," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said yesterday.

The International Olympic Committee wants team coaches, trainers or officials to be punished if they encouraged or ordered the players to lose deliberately.

Four women's doubles teams were kicked out of the competition on Wednesday after playing badly to secure a more favorable draw in the next round - conduct that strikes at the heart of Olympic rules on fair play and sportsmanship.

Adams said the three national committees are now in the process of expelling the players from the games completely - taking away their accreditation, removing them from the athletes village and sending them home. "We're making sure that at this stage that they consider also the entourage, in this case the coaches, just to make sure it isn't just the athletes who are punished for this," Adams said.

The doubles teams - the top-seeds from China, two pairs from South Korea and one from Indonesia - conceded points in an apparent attempt to lose their round-robin matches so they would face their choice of opposition in the knockout stage.

"We're keen to make sure that on the ground it wasn't just the athletes that were being punished, and that if there are some people to be looked into then the national Olympic committees will do that," Adams said. "We have to leave them to take their decision. We'll be following what they do and what they say."

Adams added: "The games are about good sporting experience and that's what we're encouraging. When that doesn't happen we need to take action."

Chinese badminton coach Li Yongbo has apologized and accepted blame for the conduct of his doubles teams.

"As the head coach, I owe the fans and the Chinese an apology," Xinhua news agency quoted Li as saying. "Chinese players failed to demonstrate the fighting spirit of the national team. It's me to blame."

Li said he wouldn't dodge any responsibilities. "It's not so easy for players, coaches, staff, nor is it for everyone, nor is it to blame others. But now the top job is to make sure the matches go well. I promise to take whatever responsibility I should for the incident."