By Jonathan Rest at London's Olympic Park

The International Olympic Committee said today it is happy with the lack of disciplinary action taken by Fifa, world soccer's governing body, over allegations that the Japanese women's team were told by their coach not to win a match so as to avoid moving their base for a quarter-final.

Japan's coach Norio Sasaki's admittance that he told the team not to beat South Africa came as the Badminton World Federation kicked out eight players from London 2012 for deliberately trying to lose group matches to manipulate their quarter-finals pairings.

Sasaki told reporters in a Fifa-organised news conference after the 0-0 draw with South Africa that he did not want his team travelling to Scotland for tomorrow's quarter-final. The result meant Japan stayed in Cardiff in Wales instead.

Fifa said its disciplinary committee studied Sasaki’s comments and ruled "there are no sufficient elements to start disciplinary proceedings" for corruption or "unlawfully influencing match results."

An IOC spokesman said today: "In the first instance it is always a matter for the federation. Fifa has looked into it and said there's no case to answer.

"Clearly the two cases [soccer and badminton] are very different. This is a coach issue to begin with, it has nothing to do with the players. I'm not even sure if there has been a clear translation of his comments as yet."

The BWF yesterday concluded that two pairs of players from South Korea, one pair from China and one pair from Indonesia had attempted to lose matches at Wembley Arena in order to avoid meeting more difficult opponents later in the competition.

The IOC confirmed today that the expelled athletes were in the process of "leaving the village," but indicated that the issue is not necessarily closed.

The spokesman said: "I wouldn't say there will be sanctions as yet. But we have asked the national Olympic committees to look into their entourage and see if there are any questions to be asked there.

"The games are about a good sporting experience, and that is what we encourage."

Sportcal