Badminton

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Denmark's Viktor Axelsen successfully defended his Olympic badminton's men's singles competition, defeating Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-11 21-11.

The two-time world champion, who also won bronze in Rio in 2016, celebrated by handing his racquet to a child in the crowd.

Vitidsarn took the men's singles title at the 2023 World Championships, but the 23-year-old had to settle for silver in Paris.

Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia won bronze, defeating India's Lakshya Sen, 13-21 21-16 21-11.

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World number one An Se-young won the gold medal in the women's singles badminton on her Olympic debut.

An, 22, won 2-0 in the final against China's He Bing Jiao, who herself is ninth in the world rankings.

An took the opening game 21-13, confirming victory and her gold medal with a 21-16 win in the second and final game of the match.

Upon victory, An passionately celebrated with tears coming down her face before taking a South Korean flag from the crowd and running back on to court, waving it aloft.

In 2023, An won singles titles at both the World Championships and the Asian Games.

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Chinese Taipei's Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin retained their Olympic badminton men's doubles title with a thrilling win over China's Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang.

Yang and Chi-Lin ran out 21-17 18-21 21-19 winners at the Porte de La Chapelle arena in Paris in a gripping final which lasted one hour and 16 minutes.

Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik took bronze after winning 16-21 22-20 21-19 against Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen of Denmark.

Image source, Reuters

Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan won gold for China in the badminton women's doubles in Paris, beating fellow Chinese pair Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning in the gold medal match.

The number one seeds were victorious in straight sets, 22-20 21-15.

The bronze medal was won by Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida of Japan.

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China won the first badminton gold of the Paris Olympics with mixed doubles top seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Ya Qiong thrashing their South Korean opponents.

The pair breezed past Jeong Na-eun and Kim Won-ho 21-8 21-11.

The Chinese pair won silver in Tokyo three years ago, but went one better this time, winning in just 41 minutes.

Japan's Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino took bronze after a 21-13 22-20 win over South Korea's Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung.

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Team GB's Kirsty Gilmour exited the Paris Olympics as she lost her second badminton group match to China's He Bingjiao.

Gilmour, 30, was representing Team GB in her third Olympic Games and has never reached the knockout stage.

The Scot pushed Bingjiao close in the opening game, losing 24-22, but was swept aside 21-8 in the second by the world number eight.

Bingjiao has topped the round-robin group stage, which means she progresses.

Stephen Couse
BBC Sport Scotland in Paris

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Team GB's Kirsty Gilmour got her Olympic badminton campaign under way with a comfortable two-set win over Azerbaijan's Keisha Fatimah Azzahra.

The Scot admitted afterwards she still feels nerves despite it being her third appearance at the Games, but that was not evident from her performance as she romped to a 21-13 21-11 victory.

"We hit the ground running and all the things I planned to do I managed to do, so I'm pretty happy," she said.

"We've had a lot of challenges in the preparation for this, mentally and how to pitch ourselves. We've worked through a lot of the emotions that might come up here in training, kind of on purpose and kind of accidentally.

"In that way I feel quite prepared as well, I feel like I'm able to get clarity through those horrible patches. Mentally I feel pretty prepared and physically good too."

He Bingjiao is the Scot's next opponent in the pool stage and she beat Gilmour in two sets at the Indonesia Open when they met last month.

Victory for Gilmour would see her progress from the group stage for the first time at the Olympics, but she admits it will be "a real challenge".

"I didn't have a great performance when we last played," the 30-year-old added. "I had a low energy day, so was fighting my way through that.

"We've had some really close matches in the past - I've taken a few wins and she's won more recently.

"I'm just really looking forward to it and looking at it as a really positive opportunity to show off and play some good badminton."

Sam Drury
BBC Sport journalist

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Great Britain's Ben Lane and Sean Vendy are out of the men's doubles badminton after losing to China's top seeds Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in three games.

Having lost their opening match on Saturday, the Brits needed to win to maintain any chance of qualifying from Group A.

A close first game ended 21-18 in favour of the Chinese pair before Lane and Vendy stormed back to take the second 21-13.

But Liang and Wang stepped it up in the third, showing far more aggression, and a pinpoint smash from the former sealed a 21-14 triumph.

That ensures the Chinese duo will progress to the next round, while Lane and Vendy will exit after their final group match against Canada's Adam Dong and Nyl Yakura on Monday evening.

Sam Drury
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Reuters

British pair Ben Lane and Sean Vendy were beaten by Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in a hard-fought match to begin their badminton men's doubles campaign.

Lane and Vendy started superbly, going up 5-0 early as they took the first game 21-19 at Porte de la Chapelle Arena.

But Chia and Soh hit back to win the second 21-16 and force a deciding game.

Both pairs were starting to feel the intensity of the first two games but the momentum was with the Malaysians and they pulled away to take the third 21-11 and seal a crucial win.

Lane and Vendy, who lost every match without winning a game in Tokyo three years ago, will likely have to beat top seeds Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang of China in their next match to keep their hopes of progressing from Group A alive.