Kirsty Gilmour’s hopes of Olympic medal for Team GB END with straight-games defeat by Akane Yamaguchi in Tokyo as Japanese advances to knockout stages of women’s badminton singles
Kirsty Gilmour’s hopes of winning an Olympic medal came to an end following defeat by Akane Yamaguchi in straight games.
The 27-year-old Team GB medal hopeful started well in the women’s badminton singles Group L clash and raced into a 4-0 lead in the first game at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza.
But Japanese No 4 seed Yamaguchi fought back in style and started to dictate terms to the Scot before taking the opening game 21-9.
Kirsty Gilmour’s hopes of winning an Olympic medal came to an end following defeat by Akane Yamaguchi
The 27-year-old Team GB medal hopeful started well and raced into a 4-0 lead
The 24-year-old from Japan then – despite some solid defensive play from the two-time European Championship silver medallist – won the second game 21-18.
Gilmour therefore will not advance to the knockout stages of the women’s badminton at this summer’s Games in Tokyo.
The Scot’s hopes of winning a medal appeared bright when she opened the Games with a comfortable win in the group stage against Pakistan’s Mahoor Shahzad 21-14 21-14.
But Japanese No 4 seed Yamaguchi fought back in style and took the first game 21-9
But ultimately despite showing glimpses she came up short against Yamaguchi, who will now enter the business end of the event.
Gilmour also competed for Team GB at the Rio Olympics in 2016, where she also exited at the group stages.
Having won her opening match against the unseeded Sabrina Jaquet in straight games, she lost her second match against the world No. 28 Linda Zetchiri 21–12, 17–21, 16–21.
The 24-year-old from Japan won the second game 21-18 to seal her progression to knockouts