Viktor Axelsen became the most dominant badminton player after winning the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. Injury put a question mark on his fitness, if he could defend his Olympic title in Paris. An ankle injury forced the Danish player to pull out from the Singapore Open. It happened several weeks before the Olympic Games would commence.
Axelsen assured badminton game fans that he would be there. On the other hand, An Se-young won the Singapore Open, one of the warm-up tournaments to the Paris Olympics. Is the gold medal a certainty? It's still too early to tell.
The 2023 BWF World Championships was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. South Korea was the big winner, scooping three of the five gold medals at stake. An Se-young won the gold medal in the women's singles, an event dominated by Chinese women. If Sen-young, a native of Gwangu, would emerge victorious on August 1, she would be the second Koread badminton player to win an Olympic gold medal.
Bang Soo-hyun won the gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics. On the other hand, Indonesia left the tournament with a silver medal. It was a disappointing outcome for a badminton powerhouse. Before we go further, let's take a look at the history of the sport
China dominated the Olympic Games, winning almost half of the total medals at stake. Chen Long is one of the most bemedalled Chinese athletes, winning a bronze in London, a gold in Rio, and a silver in Tokyo. Zhang Ning won the women's singles gold in 2004 and 2008, her achievements the same as Indonesia's Susi Sasanti. Sasanti was the inaugural winner in the women's singles event.
Indonesia dominated the men's doubles, but the Chinese pair of Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang won the bronze in the 2023 BWF World Championships. It capitulates them into medal contenders for the Paris Olympics. Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan are the current world champion, and the duo could be the sixth Chinese pair to win an Olympic gold medal in women's doubles.
Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong followed their silver-medal finish in the Tokyo Olympics with another second-place finish at the 2023 BWF World Championships. A Chinese sweep is probable, but we see a different set of winners in the Paris Olympics
No Filipino badminton player will compete in Paris, which would be a bummer for local fans. They can still look forward to the Paris Games. Fans, and those into badminton betting, should check out our predictions.
Who will win: Kunlavut Viditsam (Thailand)
Who should win: Viktor Axelsen (Denmark)
Dark horse: Kodai Naraoka (Japan)
Kunlavut Viditsam could be the first Thail badminton player to win an Olympic gold medal in badminton. The Olympics is the only one missing from his impressive resume, and he's only 23 years of age. Two Danish players, namely Anders Antonsen and Viktor Axelsen, are older and have experience on their side. Resilience can be a factor in this Olympics, so it’s hard to dismiss Axelsen’s chances. Axelsen’s fans would point out that the defending Olympic champion is living in dry Dubai due to his asthma and rhinitis. But watch out for Naraoka.
Who will win: An Se-young (South Korea)
Who should win: Akame Yamaguchi (Japan)
Dark horse: Carolina Marin (Spain)
Can anyone stop An Se-young? The answer is YES. Carolina Marin, the 2016 Olympic winner, finished behind An Se-young in the 2023 BWF World Championships. The Spaniard has a good shot of winning a second Olympic gold.
This is the most-anticipated game in badminton, where youth meets experience. It's a mouth-watering encounter in other sports, and it's no different in badminton. Can Marin find a way? Akame Yamaguchi stands between them, and the Japanese ace player has a fighting chance.
Who will win: Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Denmark)
Who should win: Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk (South Korea)
Dark horse: Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik (Malaysia)
The Korean pair of Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae won the gold medal in the 2023 BWF World Championships, but an upset is likely to happen in this event. The Danish pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup could be the first Olympic champion from Denmark. They won a silver medal in the 2023 Worlds. The Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik could stir things up and win a medal.
Who will win: Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan (China)
Who should win: Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhani (Indonesia)
Dark horse: Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee (South Korea)
Many badminton fans are looking at an all-Chinese finals in women's doubles, where Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan finally wins a gold on a global stage. Zhang Shuvian and Zheng Yu settled for bronze after falling to Qingchen and Yifan in the semifinals, but only the luck of the draw. Women’s doubles is the only event where Indonesia can win another Olympic title, so fans should look out for the dynamic duo of Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhani.
Who will win: Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong (China)
Who should win: Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung (South Korea)
Dark horse: Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino (Japan)
China dominated the mixed doubles event with South Korea a strong challenger in most editions. It would be unfair to look at South Koreans as distant second to the Chinese, as the Korean duo of Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jong became world champions. But Chinese players save their best for the Olympics.
Your thoughts?
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