PARIS: Women took centre stage in badminton group matches at the Paris Games on Sunday, with two former Olympic medallists in action and two more to come, including Spain's Carolina Marin and China's Chen Yufei who won gold in Rio and Tokyo respectively.
India's PV Sindhu, with two Olympic medals already under her belt, made quick work of Fathimath Abdul Razzaq of the Maldives, winning 21-9 21-6 in under half an hour.
Taiwan's Tokyo silver medallist Tai Tzu Ying's win against Lianne Tan of Belgium was at times a closer game, ending 21-15 21-14. Tai, who came onto the court with both knees in braces, has previously opened up about an issue with her left knee and earlier this year withdrew from the Singapore open.
Tzu Ying told reporters after Sunday's match that she thinks she is still in control, but that her movements on court could have been better.
In a minor upset, Malaysia's Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah prevailed after over an hour against Matsumoto Mayu-Nagahara Wakana, winning 18-21 21-15 21-16 against the Japanese duo who are seven places higher in the world rankings.
Pearly-Thinaah put up a passionate fight on Saturday as well, coming close to pulling off an upset against Chinese title favourites Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan.
In the men's singles, China's world number six Li Shifeng beat Switzerland's Tobias Kuenzi who despite being ranked 113 did not go down without a fight, losing 21-13 21-13.
Shifeng capped off China's undefeated streak so far at the Paris Olympics, winning all seven of their matches on Saturday and all four in the first session on Sunday.
In a nail-biting near upset that ended the first session, United States' Vinson Chiu and Jennie Gai - number 30 in the world - kept ninth-ranked Malaysian duo Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei sweating for nearly an hour before losing 21-15 24-22. -Reuters