Badminton doubles team relegated to bronze medal match
Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan / Yonhap
The South Korean women's badminton doubles team of Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan was relegated to the bronze medal match at the Tokyo Olympics, Saturday, with another team from the country set to take a crack at reaching the final later in the day.
Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu of Indonesia defeated Lee and Shin 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza in Tokyo.
On the other side of the bracket is the other South Korean duo, Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong. They will face Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan of China later Saturday.
Having these two pairs in the semifinals assured South Korea of at least a bronze medal in the women's doubles.
Lee and Shin are world No. 4 in the women's doubles, two spots ahead of Polii and Rahayu, but the Indonesian team improved to 6-2 against the South Koreans.
Lee and Shin led 5-2 early in the first game, but the Indonesians pulled even at 11-11.
A seesaw match ensued. Lee and Shin briefly led 19-18, but then Polii and Rahayu got three unanswered points to take the first game.
The second game was just as tight, and once again, the South Koreans faltered down the stretch. From a 16-16 tie, Polii and Rahayu scored four consecutive points to set up a match point and won the deciding game 21-17.
South Korea hasn't won gold in the women's doubles since Chung So-young and Hwang Hye-young won the inaugural title in 1992. (Yonhap)