Gronya Somerville and Setyana Mapasa won their women’s doubles match against Danish duo Maiken Fruergaard and Sara Thygesen, with the 64-minute match extending to three sets.   

The Aussies withstood pressure from the world No. 15 pairing from the outset and closed out the first set 21-19.  They lost the second set 13-21 but bounced back in the third to take the decider 21-12.  

Somerville said it was good to end their Tokyo campaign with a win.  

“We can go back to Australia proud and happy that we have got a win at our first Olympics and I think it will really encourage us for our matches and tournaments in the future,” Somerville said.  

“We’ve been disappointed with our performance so far, so to finish on a win against a great pair and to have played some good badminton for our family and friends in Melbourne and Australia to watch is really special,” she said.  

The pair were determined to build off their earlier results and knew they had it in them to play at this level.  

“We learnt from our match yesterday against China, the style that we played against them was not what we wanted to. We were able to change it in this match to our opponents,” Somerville said.   

Mapasa said it was a special moment, for herself and her family who have watching from home.   

“I’m very happy and proud to be able to play for Australia,” Mapasa said.  

In the women’s singles, 28-year-old Wendy Chen from Brisbane defeated Bulgaria’s Linda Zetchiri 2-1.   

Chen quickly stamped her authority on the match, taking the first set 21-16. She nearly closed out the game in the second set, but Zetchiri pushed the match to a decider by clinching the game 22-20.  

Chen competing at her second Olympics was not fazed and claimed the third with a convincing 21-8.  

“I haven’t competed in two years, we only had a friendly match in New Zealand and a training camp,” Chen said.

“It’s been difficult to find rhythm, but I feel like I found it in the third.” 

Chen was buoyed by her performance and is hoping to return to competition later in the year.  

“I miss competing. It was pretty good out there so I’m going to try to go Europe in September, onto the tour again,” she said.  

Michelle Cook