By Richa Naidu
PARIS (Reuters) -China’s Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong demolished South Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun 21-8 21-11 to win the Olympic badminton mixed doubles gold medal at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena on Friday.
Surrounded by a sea of red Chinese flags in the crowd, Zheng knelt on the court and screamed with his arms outstretched as Yaqiong collapsed to the floor before running into her coach’s arms as they celebrated victory to the sound of the crowd’s rhythmic roars of “jiayou”, a cry of support in Chinese.
“Three years ago we lost in the final and since then we’ve been preparing for today,” said Zheng, who won a silver medal with Huang in Tokyo.
“Compared to Tokyo where we were hard working, this time we played smarter.”
Japan’s Arisa Higashino and Yuta Watanabe took the bronze by beating South Korea’s Chae Yu-jung and Seo Seung-jae 21-13 22-20.
China lost their chance of winning a men’s singles medal when Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn crushed world number one Shi Yuqi 21-12 21-10 in the quarter-finals.
China, which dominates badminton and has won 20 gold medals since it became an Olympic sport, is still in the running for each of the other events.
Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia beat Denmark’s fourth-ranked Anders Antonsen 21-17 21-15 an absorbingly hypnotic match with their smashes resulting in the use of more than 30 shuttlecocks.
Fellow Dane Viktor Axelsen, reigning men’s singles champion and world number two avenging his compatriot’s defeat when he took down Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew 21-9 21-17.
REAL TEST
India’s 14th-ranked Lakshya Sen clinched a 19-21 21-15 21-12 win over Taiwan’s former world number two Chou Tien-Chen.
“This is something I’ve never dreamt of,” said Sen, India’s last hope of badminton glory in Paris.
“The real test starts here – it’s now the time to go back, recover and be ready for the next match.”
In the men’s doubles semi-finals, Taiwan’s Wang Chi-lin and Lee Yang overcame Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen 18-21 21-17 21-10 to make the final on Sunday.
Malaysian women’s doubles pair Thinaah Muralitharan and Pearly Tan, ranked 12th in the world, made tournament favourites China’s Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan work hard for victory in their semi-final.
The Chinese duo won 21-12 18-21 21-15, but their opponents went further in the tournament than any other Malaysian women’s pair in Olympic history.
“We just wanted to enjoy every moment that we had on court. So I think that’s one thing that we won’t regret,” Muralitharan said.
“They (Chen and Jia) are mentally really strong. That’s why they are number one, and I think this is what we still need to learn from them.”
China’s Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning beat Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida 21-16 21-19 and the Japanese pair will face the Malaysians in Saturday’s battle for bronze.
(Reporting by Richa Naidu; Editing by Toby Davis, Ed Osmond and Ken Ferris)
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