KYODO NEWS



 

Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida dominated their third-place match to claim bronze in the women's badminton doubles at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.

The Japanese, ranked fourth in the world, breezed past the 12th-ranked Malaysian pair of Pearly Tan and Muralitharan Thinaah 21-11, 21-11 in 44 minutes for their nation's second bronze at La Chappelle Arena.

An 8-1 burst early in the first game set the tone for the match in which the Japanese were never seriously threatened.

"I'm relieved to be able to take a medal home," the 26-year-old Matsuyama said. "Right from the start, I kept calling out, 'next point, next point.'"

With the pair having gone no further than the quarterfinals at the world championships, bronze at the Olympics is a major step forward.

"Whether we won or lost, this was going to be our last match, so we wanted to persevere more than our opponents, and go after every single shuttle in play and never give up," Shida, 27, added.

 

Earlier, Japan's hopes of a badminton singles medal ended when world No. 1 An Se Young knocked out Akane Yamaguchi and 2016 champion Carolina Marin defeated Aya Ohori in the women's quarterfinals.

The 22-year-old An, representing South Korea, got off to a slow start but her uncanny accuracy eventually wore down the 27-year-old Yamaguchi, 15-21, 21-17, 21-8.

It was the third-straight Olympic quarterfinal loss for the sixth-ranked two-time world champion Yamaguchi.

"I gave my all and was able to make a lot of good plays, but even more than that, the support of so many people cheering me on gave me great joy," said a tearful Yamaguchi.

 

Marin, who in 2016 became the first non-Asian to win an Olympic women's singles gold medal, missed the Tokyo Olympics with a left knee injury, but the Spaniard was in top form against Olympic debutant Ohori, beating her in straight games, 21-13, 21-14.