Wong bids farewell to Olympics

RIO DE JANEIRO — The flags of hosts Brazil, China, Japan, Germany, South Korea are proudly on display here at the Riocentro Pavilion 4, where the Olympic badminton contest is heating up in the battle for medals in the men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

But the Singapore flag will not be flying today, after national shuttlers Derek Wong and Liang Xiaoyu were eliminated from the group stage of the men’s and women’s singles respectively.

Playing in his final Olympic outing, world No 55 Wong needed to upset Malaysian world No 1 Lee Chong Wei in his second group match to advance to the next stage.

But two-time silver medallist Lee, who has been handed the task of winning his country’s first gold medal at the Games, was not about to let Wong get in the way of his gold-medal hunt.

Despite a slow start, the Malaysian never lost control, matching the Singaporean’s tactical, patient game point for point as he claimed the first game 21-18 before romping to a 21-8 victory in the next one.

Lee will advance to the next round after topping Group A, with a potential mouth-watering clash on the cards against arch-rival Lin Dan of China in the semi-finals. Only the group winner will qualify for the Round-of-16.

Wong, 27, confirmed yesterday that his second stint at the Games would be his last.

“In the first set, we were able to rally a bit and he started to make some mistakes,” he said. “But his second game was perfect, and it was hard to get into it. You can see in his eyes that he is focused on every point.

“I’m happy with my first set, but in the second, he just increased the speed and got to the shuttle faster.”

Summing up his Olympic campaigns in 2012 and 2016 — he also bowed out at the group stage in London — Wong added: “It’s not too bad, one win and one loss each time, and I lost to two good players — Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen and Lee Chong Wei.

“I don’t think I’ll be playing another Olympics as I don’t want to block others from participating. The Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) has a plan for the juniors coming up.”

Post Olympics, badminton is likely to take a back seat for Wong, as the 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist said: “I’m going to slow down or stop, it depends on my discussions with my association. (Retirement) is not in the cards yet, but we’ll see after my talks with the SBA.”

And as the Olympics’ men’s singles turns to the long-time rivalry between Lee and Lin — who has denied the Malaysian on two occasions in 2008 and 2012 — Wong believes it will be third time lucky for Lee in Rio.

“Chong Wei has two silver medals and I don’t see what’s going to stop him from getting the gold,” he said. “Even though Lin Dan is there, both of them are on par (in standard). Including Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, these three have a good chance of finishing on the podium.”

Wong’s team-mate Liang was also eliminated at the group stage of the women’s singles yesterday, as the 20-year-old was beaten 21-17, 21-11 by South Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun in her second group match.