China’s badminton stranglehold loosens

RIO DE JANEIRO: Badminton powerhouse China has long dominated the sport, but its poor return of just two gold medals at the Rio Olympics marks a sea change as its stranglehold loosens.

China collected a clean sweep of five gold medals at London 2012, however it was a different story in Brazil as its women shuttlers and superstar Lin Dan left empty-handed.

That poor return played a major role in China slipping behind Great Britain to finish third in the medals table - the first time they have finished outside the top two since the Sydney Games in 2000.

The women’s singles had its first non-Chinese winner since the Atlanta Games 20 years ago after Li Xuerui failed to defend her title won in London, losing in the semi-final.

After falling to Spanish gold medallist Carolina Marin, Li said it was becoming harder for China to continue its dominance of the sport, which has been an Olympic event since Barcelona 1992.

The Asian giant also missed out on Olympic women’s doubles badminton gold for the first time since the Barcelona Games when Tang Yuanting and Yu Yang lost in the semi-finals.

Japanese duo Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi beat Denmark in the final for gold with the former declaring it had been their goal to “break China’s dominance”.