Tokyo: The 2020 Tokyo Olympic mixed doubles category ended their group stage competitions on Monday, and Badminton World Federation (BWF) has quickly released the quarter-finals draw.
In the top half, World No. 1 Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong of China and World No. 8 Marcus Ellis/Lauren Smith of Great Britain could potentially set up a semi-final faceoff.
Meanwhile, in the bottom half, if World No. 5 Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino of Japan could get past World No. 2 Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand, they are very likely to face World No. 3 Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping of China in the semi-finals.
On Monday, the English pair pulled off a huge upset in their last Group B match against Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai. Ellis/Smith were playing with fast front-court attacks and made very minimal mistakes to down the Thai pair 21-17, 21-19.
In a match that would determine the champions of Group C, Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino confidently defeated Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti of Indonesia 21-13, 21-10 to top that group.
Despite putting up a strong fight, the Rio Olympic mixed doubles silver medalists, Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying concluded their final match of Tokyo Olympics on Monday with a 13-21, 19-21 loss to World No. 3 Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping of China. The Malaysia pair was serving up some fierce smashes during the match in which their opponents had to dodge few times to avoid being hit by the shuttlecock.
The last 8 competitions of the mixed doubles event will start on Wednesday, the semi-finals will be played on Thursday, and the first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics will be decided on Friday in the mixed doubles final.
Here is the mixed doubles quarter-final draw:
Top Half:
Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong (CHN) vs. Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti (INA)
Marcus Ellis/Lauren Smith (GBR) vs. Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet (HKG)
Bottom Half:
Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino (JPN) vs. Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA)
Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping (CHN) vs. Seo Seung-jae/Chae Yoo-jung (KOR)
In women’s singles, World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying recorded her second Group P victory with a 21-16, 21-11 win over Nguyen Thuy Linh of Vietnam. She is expected to advance to the quarter-final without any problems.
