* Image credit vietnamfriendship.vn
JAKARTA (23 August 2018) – Now that the Asian Games team badminton competition is done and dusted, all focus will now shift to the individual events that begin today. At the previous Games, China and Indonesia shared the five individual gold medals, winning three and two golds each respectively.
The battle lines for the individual competition have been drawn this year with much of the focus on the players from team champions, China (men) and Japan (women). Indonesia will also be in the fray particularly with the likes of world No.1 doubles duo, Marcus Fenaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, who were impressive during the team event.
The leading seeds, who had received byes, will only be in action tomorrow. Among the notable top players on court today included former world champions Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand and Nozomi Okuhara of Japan, along with India’s P.V. Sindhu.
Malaysia’s Olympic silver medallists, men’s doubles Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong and mixed doubles pair of Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying and Japan’s Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda, silver medallists in the recent world championships, also played today.
This afternoon, Vietnam’s Thi Trang Vu, ranked No. 52 in the world, almost upstaged world No. 3 Sindhu in the first round today. Trang Vu surprised with a 21-10 win in the first game but Sindhu recovered with a 21-12 score. In the decider, both were tied at 18-all before drawing level again at 20-20. Sindhu disputed a line call at game point but to her credit, she kept her cool and walked away with a hard-fought 23-21 win.
In another matches this afternoon, Saina Nehwal and Gregoria Mariska Tunjung sailed past their opponents, Soraya Aghaeihajiagha from Iran and Ng Chi Weng from Macau. Saina will face Fitirani while Gregoria will meet Sindhu in the second-round tomorrow.
In the men’s doubles, V Shem-Wee did not face much problems against Thailand’s Kiong Kittinupong Kedren-Dechapol Puavaranukroh to win 21-15, 21-16.
Takeshi-Keigo also had an easy game today, defeating Thailand’s Tinn Isriyanet-Kittisak Namdash 21-11, 21-16.
Selected Results
Men's doubles
Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (Mas) bt Kittinupong Kedren-Dechapol Puavaranukroh (Tha) 21-15, 21-16
3-Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda (Jpn) bt Tinn Isriyanet-Kittisak Namdash (Tha) 21-11, 21-16
Women's singles
Saina Nehwal (Ind) bt Soraya Aghaeihajiagha 21-7, 21-9
3-Pusarla V. Sindhu (Ind) bt Vu Thi Trang (Vie) 21-10, 12-21, 23-21
Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (Ina) bt Weng Chi Ng (Mac) 21-4, 21-7
Women’s doubles
Ashwini Ponnappa-Reddy N. Sikki (Ind) bt Ng Wing Yung-Yeung Nga Ting (Hkg) 21-16, 21-15
Note: For full results, please go to https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/matches.aspx?id=4B641789-C7DC-440D-99A2-4BC6D8B537EC&d=20180823
Individual Medallists Asian Games 2014
Men's singles
Gold: Lin Dan (China)
Silver: Chen Long (China)
Bronze: Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia), Wei Nan (Hong Kong China)
Men's doubles
Gold: Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan (Indonesia)
Silver: Lee Yong-dae-Yoo Yeon-seong (Korea)
Bronze: Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (Malaysia), Kim Gi-jung-Kim Sa-rang (Korea)
Women's singles
Gold: Wang Yihan (China)
Silver: Li Xuerui (China)
Bronze: Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei), Bae Yeon-ju (Korea)
Women's doubles
Gold: Nitya Krishinda Maheswari-Greysia Polii (Indonesia)
Silver: Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi (Japan)
Bronze: Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei (Malaysia), Tian Qing-Zhao Yunlei (China)
Mixed doubles
Gold: Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei (China)
Silver: Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir (Indonesia)
Bronze: Praveen Jordan-Debby Susanto (Indonesia), Xu Chen-Ma Jin (China)
