BADMINTON: Joy Lai was the only Aussie remaining in the Badminton at the second summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Nanjing, China. But after being knocked out in the mixed doubles on Wednesday night, Australia’s involvement in the Badminton is no more.
BADMINTON: Joy Lai was the only Aussie remaining in the Badminton at the second summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Nanjing, China. But after being knocked out in the mixed doubles on Wednesday night, Australia’s involvement in the Badminton is no more.
After bowing out of the singles competition in the group stage, Lai’s medal hopes were still alive in the mixed doubles.
“In the singles I played one of the top girls. I played really well in the first set, so I can get something from that, I know I can play at their speed,” Lai said.
“To know that I can play with them, I can be really proud of myself.”
In the doubles, Lai was partnered with number one player, Yugi Shi of China. The two were tested in their first mixed match but eventually prevailed 21-19 21-14 against Ygor Coelho de Oliveira (Brazil) and Vladyslava Lisna (Ukraine).
Lai and Shi then clashed with Chia-Hsin Lee of Taipei and Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan. Lai and Shi pushed their opponents all the way in the first set but came up empty handed, dropping the set 21-18.
“ I was a bit nervous at the start, but for every match I was nervous because I was playing with the number one boy. We were playing against Taipei and Japan last night so I was nervous because they were pretty good players,” the Victorian said.
Tsuneyama and Lee were simply too strong in the second set, comfortably taking it 21-9, spelling the end of Australia’s involvement in Badminton at the YOG.
Though Lai would have liked to have continued at the YOG and have a shot at a medal, there’s no guessing what the future will hold for this talented teen.
“I’ll continue training. I’m not sure if I’ll make it to Rio, but I’ll try to. If not, definitely Japan after that,” she said.
“I’m just going to keep enjoying the sport and have fun.”
Sam Rawlings
Olympics.com.au
@AUSOlympicTeam