Monday was a tough one for South Korean badminton doubles teams, as three out of four tandems lost in the quarterfinals.
The list of victims included the No. 1-ranked men's team, Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong. The Malaysian upstarts Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong upset the South Koreans 2-1 (17-21, 21-18, 21-19).
The other South Korean men's doubles duo, Kim Sa-rang and Kim Gi-jung, also got knocked out of the quarters, as Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan of China beat them 2-1 (11-21, 21-18, 24-22). The South Koreans had a match point in the third game at 20-18 but ended up snatching defeat instead of victory.
Chang Ye-na and Lee So-hee were eliminated in the quarterfinals in the women's doubles, as Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark prevailed 2-1 (28-26, 18-21, 21-15).
Jung Kyung-eun and Shin Seung-chan were the only surviving South Korean tandem, defeating Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek of the Netherlands 2-1 (21-13, 20-22, 21-14) in the quarters. They will face Misaki Matsumoto and Ayaka Takahashi of Japan for a spot in the final.
South Korea fared a bit better in the singles.
In the men's singles, Son Wan-ho defeated Angus Ng of Hong Kong 2-0 (23-21, 21-17) to reach the quarterfinals. The world No. 8 will next take on the second-ranked Chinese star, Chen Long.
On the women's side, Sung Ji-hyun defeated Linda Zetchiri of Bulgaria 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) to advance to the final eight. She will have the tough assignment of facing the world No. 1, Carolina Marin of Spain, on Tuesday.
Bae Yeon-ju, the other South Korean in the women's singles, lost in the round of 16.
The men's table tennis team lost to China 3-0 in the semifinals on Monday. The men's team has fallen to the bronze medal contest, and holds South Korea's last hope for a table tennis medal.
South Korea won bronze and silver in each of the past two Olympics in men's team.
Jeoung Young-sik nearly upset the world No. 4 Zhang Jike in the opening singles match, but the Chinese prevailed 3-2 (13-15, 13-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4).
Then it was smoothing sailing for China the rest of the way. Ma Long, world No. 1 and individual gold medalist in Rio, needed only
20 minutes to dispatch Joo Sae-hyuk 3-0 (11-1, 11-4, 11-4). In just under half an hour, Xu Xin and Zhang finished off Lee Sang-su and Jeoung 3-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-6).
With these defeats, South Korea failed to add a medal on Monday. It's sitting at six golds, three silvers and five bronzes.
Elsewhere on Monday, North Korea earned its second gold medal in Rio, with gymnast Ri Se-gwang crowed the Olympic champion in the men's vault.
In the absence of the 2012 Olympic gold medalist from South Korea, Yang Hak-seon, Ri scored an average of 15.691 points after two attempts for his first Olympic title. (Yonhap)
