Olympic badminton August 13 results: Americans eliminated
By John Buhler
Saturday, August 13th was not a good day for the United States in Olympic badminton, as six of the seven Americans at Rio de Janeiro have been eliminated.
Saturday was Day 3 of the Olympic badminton competitions and the final day of the preliminary qualifiers. Sadly, this was the last day of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games for six of the seven badminton players representing the United States.
At 8:00 AM ET, the two men representing the United States in the Men’s Doubles were eliminated from Olympic competition. Phillip Chew and Sattawat Pongnairat fell to Germany’s Michael Fuchs and Johannes Schoettler 2-0 in Group Stage. It wasn’t particularly close either as Chew and Pongnairat fell to Fuchs and Schoettler in straight sets 21-14.
America’s hope in the Men’s Singles came to an end in the morning as well. Howard Shu lost to Cuba’s Osleni Guerrero 2-0 in the Men’s Singles preliminaries. Shu lost the first 21-16 and the second 21-15. He was out of the tournament by noon local time.
Chew’s day went from bad to worse when he was eliminated from the Olympics for the second time on Saturday. He and Mixed Doubles partner Jamie Subandhi fell to the Netherlands’ Jacco Arends and Selena Piek, 2-0. Chew and Subandhi didn’t go down without a fight. After losing the first set, 21-15, the American Mixed Doubles duo pushed it in the second set, but still came up short, 21-19.
Lastly, the two other Americans that were eliminated from Olympic badminton on Saturday were Eva Lee and Paula Lynn Obanana in the Women’s Doubles. Neither Lee or Obanana could handle China’s Ying and Yu Luo, who defeated the American duo, 2-0. The first set went 21-14 in China’s favor. The second went 21-15 to the Chinese.
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Entering Sunday, the last remaining of the seven United States Olympic badminton players is Iris Wang who will compete in the Women’s Singles with a great chance to advance to the Round of 16 on Saturday. Wang defeated Portugal’s Telma Santos 2-1 on Friday and a win on Saturday likely puts her into the Round of 16.
America isn’t really good at badminton. Apparently the United States just isn’t quick enough to keep pace with constant barrage of shuttlecocks in Olympic badminton. Wang, you are our only hope.