Rio wrap-up: Team Singapore — Badminton

ROAD TO RIO

Singapore’s No. 1 male shutter Derek Wong clinched his ticket to the Olympics by finishing 57th on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World standings during the qualifying period. It was to be his second and final appearance at the Games after his debut at London 2012.

Although the 27-year-old had set himself a target of advancing from the group stage before the draw was made, his shaky few months in the build-up to the Olympics did not give much cause for optimism.

He crashed out early on in the tournaments he took part in, and was also eliminated in the qualifying rounds of the OUE Singapore Open in April.

In contrast, national women’s shutter Liang Xiaoyu, who qualified for the Olympics as world No 31 on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Rankings, look as though she could made good her target of reaching the knockout stages. Again, this was before the draw for the groups was conducted.

The 20-year-old, who was making her Olympics debut, was ranked world no. 120 just last October.

But her subsequent string of good displays en-route to Rio, which included a stunning win against former world champion Ratchanok Intanon in the singles semi-finals at the Thailand Open, where she eventually finished second, and her win in the Malaysia international Challenge, a BWF fourth-tier event, promoted hope that she could make good on her target.

HOW DID THEY FARE

Both Wong and Liang were not expected to get past the group stages after being handed tough draws.

Wong was drawn in Group A of the men’s singles alongside world No 1 and two-time Olympic silver medalist Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia, while Liang was drawn with South Korea’s world No 7 Sung Ji Hyun in Group C of the women’s singles.

While the duo did crash out as anticipated, they did put up good fights against their higher-ranked opponents.

After cruising to a 21-5, 21-6 win against Suriname’s Soren Opti in his first group match, Wong played a tactical, patient game against Lee and narrowly lost 18-21 in the first set.

However, the 33-year-old Lee subsequently put his experience to good use and eased to a 21-8 win in the next set, with Wong unable to match his speed and reaction time.

Liang did well to defeat France’s Delphine Lansac 21-7, 21-15 in her opening group match and then went on to give Sung a good battle in the decider.

She started well in the first set and looked like she could pull off an upset before eventually falling 17-21. Alas, the South Korean subsequently got into her groove and won 21-11 in the deciding set.

GRADE: C