(Olympics) Reigning bronze medalists lose in quarterfinals in badminton women’s doubles

Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong lost in the quarterfinals of the women's doubles in badminton at the Paris Olympics on Thursday, falling short in a bid to win their second straight medal. The South Korean duo, world No. 10, lost to 12th-ranked Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia 2-0 (21-12, 21-13) at La Chapelle Arena in Paris. Kim and Kong won the bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, after defeating another South Korean tandem, Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan, in the bronze medal contest. This year, Lee is competing with another partner, Baek Hana. They will play in the quarterfinals later Thursday against Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning of China. The Kim-Kong team and the Baek-Lee team are on the opposite sides of the bracket. They were on a course to meet either in the final or the bronze medal match, but that possibility was erased with the loss by Kim and Kong. The South Koreans went down 7-0 in the first game before the match was barely five minutes old. They never led in that frame and str uggled to establish any rhythm as the Malaysians dictated the match. The second game played a bit tighter at the onset, and Kim's winner gave South Korea a 7-5 lead. But then the Malaysians won four straight points to grab an 11-8 lead. Down 13-10, South Korea pushed back to draw even at 13-13. But Kim and Kong didn't win another point the rest of the way, as Malaysia finished off the helpless South Koreans with eight unanswered points. Source: Yonhap News Agency