Tokyo: The 2020 Tokyo Olympics men’s doubles event has been a thrilling contest since day one. Some big names such as World No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia had their dreams of Olympic gold dashed in the quarter-finals.
On Saturday, World No. 3 Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin of Taiwan shrugged off a slow start, coming back from 2-4, 7-10, to take the lead at 17-14 before claiming the first game 21-18.
Lee/Wang were attacking with speed and confidence in the second set, quickly open up the gap 13-5, and the game was pretty much over when the Taiwanese were leading 17-7 and successfully making history for Taiwan badminton by clinching their first-ever medal in Olympic badminton, and it’s a gold medal.
Despite a 1-7 head to head record against the World No. 2 Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia, Malaysia’s Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik were playing with a quicker tempo and more proactive in their attacks to eventually beat Ahsan/Setiawan 17-21, 21-17, 21-14 to win the bronze medal for Malaysia.
This was Malaysia’s only medal in the badminton event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In men’s singles, the reigning Olympic champion Chen Long of China needed 75 minutes to down World No. 4 Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan with the score of 21-14, 9-21, 21-14. The World No. 6 Chen will play World No. 5 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia in the semi-final.
Ginting was also made to work before picking up a hard-fought quarter-final match against World No. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark 21-18, 15-21, 21-18.
The World No. 59 Kevin Cordon from Guatemala continued his fairy tale run at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by beating World No. 38 Heo Kwang Hee from Korea who upset World No. 1 Kento Momota in the last Group A match. Cordon won 21-13, 21-18, and dropped to the ground crying after his big win on Saturday.
“I feel like the luckiest man in the world because I came back from a bad injury and the death of my brother. I am a new person,” said Cordon.
In his fourth Olympic Games, the 34-year-old from Guatemala will face World No. 2 and Rio Olympics bronze medalist Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the semi-final.
Axelsen was in full attacking mode when he outlasted Shi Yuqi of China 21-13, 21-13 in the quarter-finals.
