PARIS: China´s Huang Yaqiong won Olympic badminton mixed doubles gold on Friday before she was surprised by a marriage proposal from her off-court partner.
Huang and Zheng Siwei claimed the sport´s first gold of the Paris Games when they demolished South Korea´s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun 21-8, 21-11 in just 41 minutes. The pair received their medals at La Chapelle Arena and then climbed down off the podium for a victory lap.
Waiting in the far corner was Huang´s boyfriend Liu Yuchen, a men´s doubles player who won silver in Tokyo three years ago and exited in the group stage in Paris. Liu presented Huang with a bunch of flowers before whipping out a ring and getting down on one knee, much to the delight of the Chinese fans packed into the arena.
Huang said the proposal had been “very surprising”. “I had been preparing for the match,” said the 30-year-old, showing off her ring to reporters. “Today I became an Olympic champion and I got engaged. I think the ring fits my finger really well.”
Huang and Zheng stormed into an early lead and took the first game in less than 20 minutes. The South Korean pair made a better start to the second game but their Chinese opponents were relentless, closing out the match when Jeong hit a return wide.
Zheng and Huang lost in the final in Tokyo three years ago and Zheng said they had learned their lesson. “In Tokyo we didn´t prepare very wisely,” he said. “We worked very hard then but this time we have trained and played in a smarter way. “That´s why I felt we could perform better this time.”
Croatia’s Sinkovic brothers win third straight rowing gold Croatian brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic won Olympic gold for the third straight Games on Friday to enter the pantheon of the sport´s greats.
They edged out British pair Oliver Wynne-Griffith and Tom George in the men´s pair, with just 0.45 seconds separating the two boats on the Vaires-sur-Marne course after the Britons had led from the start.
After adding the third gold, Valent, 36, said: “Three different gold medals all with different stories. Rio was the first one and special because it´s the first one. “Tokyo was first in a different discipline, and this one is even more special because of the tough year we had. Nothing went our way. We couldn´t find ourselves.
“And then, the cherry on top, midway through the race we thought we couldn´t get the medal, and then we found our rhythm, we found togetherness, and to get first.” Aside from their four Olympic medals the brothers they have won six world championship golds and seven European titles.
French judo legend Riner wins men’s +100kg gold
Five-time Olympian Teddy Riner of France claimed gold in the men’s over 100kg at the Paris Olympics here on Friday, becoming the only male judoka with five individual Olympic medals.