U.S. Olympians Continue Play on Day 2 of Paris 2024
- July 29, 2024
- 5:52 am
On the second day of Group Play, the U.S competed in all events except for Women’s Singles. Sunday, July 28, featured the continuation of Mixed Doubles, Women’s Doubles, Men’s Doubles, as well as the start of Men’s Singles for the U.S where Howard Shu would make his return to the Olympic stage after first qualifying for Rio 2016.
In Mixed Doubles, Vinson Chiu and Jennie Gai continued play in Group D against Malaysia’s Chen Jie Tang and Toh Ee Wei as the last match in the morning session. They put on an encouraging showing in the first game, eventually falling 15-21. The U.S. pair gathered momentum early in the second game and led multiple exciting rallies, much to the delight of the many U.S. fans in the stands. The Malaysians narrowed the gap towards the end of the game and tied it at 20-20. Despite the heroic efforts of Chiu and Gai through several heart-stopping rallies, including a long rally to even the score at 21-21, the Malaysians would come out on top as the U.S. pair lost 22-24.
“I’m proud we were able to hang in there until the end, it’s just unfortunate we weren’t able to pull through,” Gai said after the end of the match. “I heard some ‘USA’ [cheers], which I think helped me a lot because normally we don’t get much support, so to have people cheering for us in the crowd is a really amazing experience.”
In Men’s Singles, Howard Shu made his return to the Olympic stage for the first time since Rio 2016. Shu battled hard in the first game against Indonesia’s No. 9 seed Anthony Ginting, falling 14-21 in the end. In the second game, Shu lost 8-21.
At the end of the match, Shu said “I feel good. First set felt a little better than the second set. I’ve been watching a little bit more of his matches. I’ve never played him before so a lot of the front-court deception are things I haven’t seen. A little bit tough to get used to but first set I managed it well. Second set when the drift changed on my side of the court, not as well.”
In Women’s Doubles, the twins Annie Xu and Kerry Xu faced Hong Kong China’s Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam to continue play in Group B. The twins led in the first game but a furious comeback by the Hong Kong China pair was successful as the twins lost 22-24. In the second game, it was the twins that battled back from behind to take the lead and win 21-17 to force a third game. However, the U.S. pair would eventually fall to Hong Kong China 12-21 in the third game.
In Men’s Doubles, Vinson Chiu and Joshua Yuan continued Group Play in Group D against China’s Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi. Chiu and Yuan kept the match close going into the interval of the first game, but would eventually fall 13-21 to the Chinese pair. In the second game, the Americans fought hard to keep the score close early on. As the rest of the matches came to an end and the focus was on their match, Chiu and Yuan put together some impressive rallies to the delight of the U.S. crowd, although they would lose 13-21 in the second game.
Play continues on the third day of Group Play on Monday, July 29. See below for upcoming matches or see here for the full schedule.
11:00 AM Paris Time
Mixed Doubles
Vinson Chiu & Jennie Gai vs Hee Yong Kai Terry & Tan Wei Han Jessica (SGP)
7:30 PM Paris Time
Men’s Doubles
Vinson Chiu & Joshua Yuan vs Takuro Hoki & Yugo Kobayashi (JPN)
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Photo Credit: BadmintonPhoto (Yohan Nonotte, Mikael Ropars)
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