Men’s Singles
Upsets came as Toma Junior Popov (France) beat Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (Indonesia) to win Group H. Lakshya Sen (India) also would finish above Jonatan Christie (Indonesia). In the round of sixteen, Kodai Naraoka(Japan) and Li Shifeng (China) were upset by Chou Tien-chen (Taiwan) and Loh Kean Yew (Singapore). China not winning a medal was confirmed when Shi Yuqi (China) was beat nine straight sets by Kunlavut Vitidsarn(Thailand). The game of the round came as Sen came from 1-0 down to beat Tien-Chen. Lee Zii Jia (Malaysia) and Victor Axelsen (Denmark) also progressed. Axelsen would end the run of Sen in straight sets with Vitidsarn beating Jia, the same way. In the final, Axelsen would win in straight sets, 21-11 both times to become only the second man to retain his title. Sen would go a set up on Jia, only for the Malaysian to come back and win two sets to take bronze.
🥇Victor Axelsen 🇩🇰
🥈Kunlavut Vitidsarn 🇹🇭
🥉Lee Zii Jia 🇲🇾
I was not near here. Axelsen was someone I wanted to be against given the history and his form only being solid. Instead he was able to win impressively. I mentioned Sen as a dark threat with a tough draw but aside from that, was not much I was right about.
Men’s Doubles
The first three groups largely went as expected. Group D saw Lee/Wang (Taiwan) upset Astrup/Rasmussen (Denmark) with Yuchen/Xuanyi (China) eliminated. The bottom quarter of the knockout stage looked weaker. Rankireddy/Shetty (India) were upset from a set up by Chia/Sok (Malaysia). The Danish pair would beat Min-hyuk/Seung-jae (South Korea) to set up a rematch with the Taiwanese pair. Again it was the Taiwanese pair who caused the upset despite losing the first set. Weikeng/Chang (China) were taken to three sets by Malaysia but went through win a 21-17 victory in the third set. Again the Chinese pair came back from 1-0 down but in the final, they were unable to get the third set. Malaysia would come back from 1-0 down in the bronze medal matchup, winning two tight sets to get the bronze.
🥇Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin 🇹🇼
🥈Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang 🇨🇳
🥉Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik 🇲🇾
I am not sure if anything predicted the Taiwanese pair here as I suggested they were past their best. I had the Chinese pair in the medals. Malaysia were suggested as someone who could contend but I did not pick them
Women’s Singles
The big shock in the group stage came as Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand) eliminated Tai Tzu-Ying (Taiwan). Chen Yufei (China) was taken to three sets in both her group games but managed to get the wins. Aya Ohori (Japan) and Gregoria Mariska Tunjing (Indonesia) would both win round of sixteen games in sudden death. An Se-young (South Korea) was taken to three sets by Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) but prevailed 21-8. Elsewhere Tunjing, Carolina Marin (Spain) and He Bingjao (China) progressed in straight sets. Se-young progressed to the final despite losing the opening set. Marin would be a set up and leading in the second set when injury stuck and the Spanish star would retire from the tournament. Se-Young would take the opening set 21-13 with an incredible ability to keep the shuttlecock in play. Bingjao would save two match points but it was not enough and Se-Young would take gold.
🥇An Se-young 🇰🇷
🥈He Bingjao 🇨🇳
🥉Gregoria Mariska Tunjing 🇮🇩
The final I predicted was seeming likely when Marin was struck with injury. Se-young proved herself the dominant player on tour with her win.
Women’s Doubles
Arguably the toughest group was Group A and reigning champions Rahayu/Ramadhanti (Indonesia) were sent home without winning a set. B would largely go as expected. So-yeong/Hee-yong (South Korea) topped Matsuyama/Shida (Japan) in Group C whilst Freurgaard/Thugesen (Denmark) won Group D sending Kititharakul/Prajongjai (Thailand) home. The Japanese duo beat Denmark in straight sets to reach the semi final where they were joined by the Chinese pairs and Tan/Muralitharan (Malaysia) who beat the Koreans. It would be an all Chinese final as Qingchen/Yifan (China) and Shengshu/Ning (China) took victories. Japan would take bronze in straight sets, winning both sets 21-11. It was the pair of Qingchen/Yifan who won in straight sets.
🥇Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan 🇨🇳
🥈Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning 🇨🇳
🥉Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida 🇯🇵
I mentioned five pairs as likeliest to be the medalists and the three medalists were from those five.
Mixed Doubles
The mixed doubles group stages mainly went as expected in the top half. Group C saw Christiansen/Boje(Denmark) withdraw. Group D was won by Chen/Toh (Malaysia) getting the edge over Yanzhe/Dongping (China). The led to an all-Chinese clash in the quarter final and Siwei/Yaqiong (China) eliminated their compatriots. Group winners from B+C would progress whilst Won-ho/Na-eun (South Korea) beat the Malaysian team. They would beat compatriots Seung-jae/Yoo-jung (South Korea) in a 23-21 third set to reach the final. The Chinese pair left in won in straight sets. They would repeat that in the final, only giving up 19 total points to take gold.
🥇Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong 🇨🇳
🥈Kim Won-ho/Jeong Na-eun 🇰🇷
🥉Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino 🇯🇵
The draw for the quarter final made it impossible for the all-Chinese final I predicted. I still think the three teams I predicted were probably the three best teams.
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