Olympic badminton results August 14: Wang out, Mixed Doubles QFs
By John Buhler
Olympic badminton saw the last American Iris Wang eliminated on Sunday. The Mixed Doubles completed its quarterfinals stage at the 2016 Rio Games.
After four days of preliminary trials of Olympic badminton at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the United States had its final participant eliminated from Olympic competition.
After winning her first two matches in the Women’s Singles, Iris Wang had to go up against the No. 3 seed in the tournament in China’s Li Xuerui, falling 2-0 in back-to-back sets. Wang fell to Li 21-16 in the first set and 21-12 in the second set.
Though Wang won two of her three matches during the preliminary stages at Rio, she like her six other Olympic badminton teammates will go home to the United States without a medal after not qualifying for the Round of 16.
The United States may be racking up the medals as the most decorated country in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, but America is not going to bring anything shiny home from the badminton court. Maybe 2020 in Tokyo will be better for the United States in Olympic badminton? We can only hope.
While the seeding in the Men’s and Women’s Singles tournaments have been set in the final day of prelims on Sunday, the main event on Sunday was the quarterfinals of the Mixed Doubles.
China’s Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei advanced over Japan’s Kenta Kazuno and Ayane Kurihara 2-0, winning the first set 21-14 and the second set 21-12. Zhang and Zhao will await Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir in the Mixed Doubles semifinals on Monday evening at Riocentro.
Ahmad and Natsir won an all-Indonesian quarterfinals over countrymen Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto 2-0, winning the first set 21-16 and the second set 21-11.
On the other side of the Mixed Doubles bracket, Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Yang advanced over Poland’s Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba 2-0, winning the first set 21-17 and the second set 21-10. Chan and Goh will await China’s Xu Chen and Ma Jin in the Mixed Doubles Semifinals on Monday evening at Riocentro.
Xu and Ma faced a valiant effort from South Korea’s Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na, but managed to still win 2-0 to advance to the Mixed Doubles Semifinals. They won the first set 21-17 and the second set 21-18.
Make sure to tune in on Monday for Round of 16 action in the Men’s and Women’s Singles, quarterfinals action in the Men’s and Women’s Doubles, and semifinals action in the Mixed Doubles.