Men's Singles, Preliminary Round 1
ONG, SUN Dominate Men's Singles Matches:
Malaysia's ONG Ewe Hock and SUN Jun of the People's Republic of China rolled over their competition in Olympic men's badminton singles. ONG defeated Robert LILJEQUIST of Finland, 15-1, 15-6, and SUN defeated France's Etienne THOBOIS, 15-5, 15-6. THOBOIS held off SUN's attacks better than some may have expected considering their respective rankings. SUN is ranked ninth in the world, while THOBOIS checks in at 89th. While he couldn't put together a rally of his own, THOBOIS broke up SUN's scoring runs, avoiding match point three times.
All of the remaining favorites also won in men's singles. Jeroen VAN DIJK of the Netherlands defeated Russian Pavel UVAROV, 15-8, 15-10. Kitipon KITIKUL of Thailand fought off Bulgaria's Todor VELKOV, 15-7, 17-15. The match between Lizhi YU (CHN) and Oliver PONGRATZ (GER) was the only men's singles contest of the session to go to three games. YU won 15-5, 12-15, 15-1.
LAKSHIMI Stuns GIBSON:
P.V.V. LAKSHIMI of India thumped Great Britain's Anne GIBSON, 11-6, 11-6. GIBSON, 28th in the world by the IBF, was ranked 55 places higher than the 21-year-old LAKSHIMI. LAKSHIMI did not give up the serve often in the match, and when she did, GIBSON was unable to put together a rally.
Amparo LIM (PHI) and JENG Shwu-Zen (TPE) also dominated their respective matches. LIM defeated Poland's Katarzyna KRASOWSKA, 11-6, 11-5, and JENG bested The United States' Erika VON HEILAND, 11-2, 11-6.
The remaining two women's singles matches of the evening went back-and-forth between competitors. Japan's Yasuko MIZUI defeated Australia's Lisa CAMPBELL, 11-0, 8-11, 11-7. MIZUI made only one error in the first game of the set, which she wrapped up in six minutes. She seemed to lose concentration in the second game, committing 21 errors to give CAMPBELL points or side-outs, before coming back to win the third game.
Thailand's Pornsawan PLUNGWECH defeated Sweden's Catrine BENGTSSON, 11-4, 4-11, 11-6.
"It was a game where I just had to put it in the court and not make mistakes," said MIZUI. "I don't have a great deal of ability, so I have to be able to move around a lot and make things tough for my opponent."
Top Men's Singles Badminton Players Advance:
Thomas STUER-LAURIDSEN of Denmark dominated easily and Sweden's Jens OLSSON fought hard, but both finished the afternoon where they wanted to be -- on top. STUER-LAURIDSEN allowed his opponent, Nigerian Kayode AKINSANYA, only four points -- two in each game. Guatemala's Kenneth ERICHSEN forced OLSSON to game three, winning the first game, 15-12. OLSSON took the last two games, 15-6 and 17-15.
STUER-LAURIDSEN will face Austria's Hannes FUCHS in the second round on Thursday, while OLSSON will play Peter KNOWLES (GBR).
Canada's Iain SYDIE and Jaimie DAWSON also advanced, each winning in two games, as did Japan's Fumihiko MACHIDA. KIM Hak Kyun of Korea won by default, due to Anil KAUL's (CAN) injured knee.
HUANG Upsets 12th-Ranked RA:
HUANG Chia-Chi of Chinese Taipei came up with one of the biggest surprises of the day in Olympic badminton competition, rolling to a 11-6, 11-7 defeat of Korea's RA Kyung Min. In the International Badminton Federation's (IBF) latest ranking, RA was rated 12th in the world, while HUANG ranked 37th.
HUANG's win was not the only upset of the women's singles competition. In a closer matchup, the Russian Federation's Elena RYBKHINA defeated Joanne MUGGERIDGE of Great Britain, 11-6, 12-11. RYBKHINA came from behind to tie the second game at 10-10 and decided to set the game, allowing the first player to score two additional points to win, rather than continuing to just 11 points. It turned out to be a wise decision, as MUGGERIDGE scored the first point after the game was set.
Though not an upset, Kelly MORGAN's (GBR) win was also a bit of a surprise. MORGAN was checked in at 50th in the IBF's latest rankings, just three slots above her opponent, Australia's Song YANG. However, MORGAN completely dominated the match, 11-1, 11-5.
After winning three-game matches, Switzerland's Santi WIBOWO and Indonesia's Yuliani SENTOSO also advanced to the second round, which begins Thursday.
Favorites Advance in Men's Badminton Singles:
The opening session of men's badminton singles proceeded much as expected. Darren HALL (GBR), Hannes FUCHS (AUT), LIU En-Horng (TPE), Peter KNOWLES (GBR), Thomas WAPP (SUI) and Michael HELBER (GER) all advanced to the second round of preliminaries, which begin Thursday.
Most won their matches easily, with KNOWLES and WAPP being the only winners to need three games. KNOWLES lost his first game, 2-15, to the United States' Kevin HAN, but came back aggressively in the second and third games, finishing 15-10 and 15-7, respectively. WAPP won his first game 15-8, but lost the second to Mario CARULLA SCHULTZ of Peru, 10-15. In the rubber game, WAPP won in a hard-fought 15-11 contest.
WAPP will face HALL and LIU will face HELBER in the second round of action. The other winners' opponents will be determined by later matches.
BORG Upsets NEDJALKOVA in Women's Badminton Singles:
Margit BORG of Sweden provided the only upset of the opening session of Olympic women's badminton singles. BORG, ranked 52nd by the IBF, defeated NEDJALKOVA, ranked 39th, handily, 11-6, 11-4.
Amazingly, the other winners allowed even fewer points to be scored against them -- only three, to be exact. Thailand's Somharuthai JAROENSIRI defeated Elsa NIELSEN of Iceland 11-1, 11-2 while Denyse JULIEN (CAN) won her match against Debra O'CONNER (TRI) 11-3, 11-0, the same score by which Zarinah ABDULLAH (SIN) defeated Elena NOSDRAN (UKR). Japan's Hisako MIZUI rolled over Marie-Josephe JEAN-PIERRE (MRI) 11-2, 11-1. Denmark's Anne SONDERGAARD advanced to the second round by default. Her scheduled opponent, Bulgaria's Diana KOLEVA, withdrew from singles competition to concentrate on her doubles game and her duties as coach of the Bulgarian team.
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