My Picks | Badminton @ The Olympics
This is one of the only opinion pieces from me covering the 2020 Tokyo Olympics badminton segment and it is me sharing my personal favourites for gold in each category.
Men’s Singles
I’m going to put my Malaysian hat off for a bit and try to be as rational as best regarding my choice of the favourite. Whilst I would like Lee Zii JIa to win, he isn’t necessarily my favourite given his inconsitency (and arguably less physically demanding road to the All England final - 2 sets rather than Axelsen having 3 sets throughout and making all the finals in Thailand before hand).
I think another factor to consider is that we haven’t seen the likes of Chen Long and Chou Tien Chen for a long while given their team has not travelled out for competitions in 2021.
The ones that I personally think are more likely to win include: Momota, Axelsen (Top Half) and Lee Zii Jia, Chen Long, Chou Tien Chen & Antonsen (Bottom Half).
I personally think that Axelsen will be a heavy favourite in the top half of the draw with Momota not up to pace at All-England and his other biggest challenger, Ng Ka Long being not as strong. Axelsen has looked dominant so far in 2021, making all 4 finals (Yonex Thai Open, Toyota Thai Open, World Series Finals & All-England).
Furthermore, his 2 losses came in a VERY tactical game against his compatriot Antonsen and a match where he didn’t have the stamina to go the distance with Lee Zii Jia. But he’s looked really good and consistent.
On the bottom half of the draw, I personally think that Lee Zii Jia vs Chen Long will be VERY spicy. One very offensive player (Zii Jia) vs one very defensive player (Chen Long), but I think Zii Jia is arguably the strongest in that bottom half of the draw, just depends on whether he can bring consistency.
One extra consideration is the extra day of rest for Chou, as he has a bye for the RO16 should he make it past the group stages, but I think Lee should still be able to pull through.
My thoughts on who would win a potential Lee Zii Jia-Axelsen final? My thoughts are that whilst I would like Zii Jia to win, I think Axelsen has the more complete game. I think that fatigue from playing multiple 3 set games at All-England took a toll, and it would be interesting to see a final where both are equally well rested.
My Pick: Viktor Axelsen
Men’s Doubles
In the men’s doubles, I would say that there are 4 big favourites with many potential dark horses. The three big favourites for me would be the minions (Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon), Yuta Watanabe/Hiroyuki Endo, Wang Chi-Lin/Lee Yang and the unknown potential of Li Jun Hui/Liu Yu Chen.
I think not much has to be said for Kevin Sanjaya/Marcus Gideon. Absolutely dominant in men’s doubles over the past 3 or so years. Final after final, but the only issue is that they haven’t found a way to beat Watanabe/Endo just yet. The minions haven’t competed this year (bar one game at All-England before they were booted out for debatable Coronavirus fears after having already played one game), but will look to bring their A game.
Watanabe/Endo looked really good at All-England en-route to their title and are definitely the form pair right now, having won All-England 2 years in a row. Another consideration to take would be that Watanabe is the only one I have mentioned in this category playing in 2 disciplines, as he also plays mixed doubles with Arisa Higashino. He has, however, shown that he can cope with the fatigue of playing in both disciplines.
The other form pairing would be Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin, having won the Yonex Thailand Open, Toyota Thailand Open AND the World Tour Finals earlier this year - although without the competition of both the above pairs. They didn’t compete at All-England.
The Chinese pair of Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen will be the unknown quantity to stir up the pot, having not competed this year. But you can trust them to always bring a really touch matchup whenever they are in a game.
My Pick: Watanabe/Endo
Women’s Singles
Full disclaimer: I have a bias in this category as well, although I will pick her as the favouirite going into the tournament. I’ve been a fan of Okuhara ever since that Okuhara-Sindhu 2017 World Championship final that went to 3 games. Really worth a watch. And I think that on home turf, she is a big favourite of the crowd as well.
Okuhara comes into the Olympics having won the All-England against Thai player Pornpawee Chochuwong, although she did miss the three tournaments in Thailand after the Japanese team pulled out after Kento Momota contracted Covid-19. She did, however, also beat Carolina Marin in the final of last year’s Danish Open (which was after last year’s All-England, when most other players stopped playing).
Tai Tzu Ying would probably be my next bet, with her being the only one to challenge (and beat) the now-injured Carolina Marin in the series of tournaments in Thailand in January this year (and pulling out of All-England). She won the World Tour Finals in a gruelling final against Marin and has been winning many titles over the past few years.
The other 2 contendors that I would pick would be PV Sindhu (whom I would love to see another duel with Okuhara) and Chen Yu Fei - although she is a bit more of an unknown quantity, having not competed since reaching the All-England final in March last year (beat Okuhara in semis, lost to Tai Tzu Ying in the final).
My Pick: Nozomi Okuhara
Women’s Doubles
In the Women’s Doubles, it looks like a Japan vs South Korea face off (with whatever China can bring to the party).
The South Korean pairs of Kong Heeyong/Kim Soyeong and Lee Sohee/Shin Seungchan started off 2021 slowly before coming into their stride in the Toyota Thailand Open and the World Tour Finals (facing off against each other in the finals, winning 1 each).
The Japanese players then stepped in and showed how dominant they still are at the All-England, with Matsomoto/Nagahara winning their more experienced compatriots Fukushima/Hirota convincingly in the finals. In both cases, Thailand (South Korea) and All-England (Japan), both nations looked absolutely dominant as they drew to a close.
As again, Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan are a bit of an unknown quantity heading into the Olympics, having not had competitive international play this year. They made it to the quaterfinals of the All-England last year, losing to the now broken-up partnership of Matsumoto/Takahashi.,
I personally think that Hirota/Fukushima will likely come back with a vengeance on their home turf and take the title, but definitely would be interesting to see the South Korea vs Japan matchup and how it shakes up.
My Pick: Hirota/Fukushima
Mixed Doubles
A very big pool for me to choose from, but I would say that mixed doubles is definitely China’s strongest chance at a gold medal, despite not having seen them in action this year.
The two in-form pairs would be Watanabe/Higashino (having won the All-England title) and Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai (having won the triple crown in Thailand of the Toyota Thailand Open, Yonex Thailand Open and the World Tour Finals), although both have not faced off against each other in 2021 just yet (Japan missed the competitions in Thailand, the Thai pair didn’t make the trip to England).
But that beings said, I still think that with Watanabe playing both the men’s doubles and mixed (and likely to go far in both), coupled with the good sparring options in China, I think that the World Number 1s Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong are still going to be strong contendors in Tokyo.
Other outside contenders include: Seo Seungjae/Chae Yujung (put up a good showing in Thailand earlier this year), Marcus Ellis/Lauren Smith (generally have been big-stage performers), the second Chinese pair of Wang Yi Lyu/Huang Dong Ping, Praveen Jordan/Oktavianti and of course, I will include RIo 2016 silver medalists Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying.
Although I don’t have much data to go by, I think that Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong will be strong this Olympic Games, so they will be my pick for the Mixed Doubles category.
My Pick: Huang Yaqiong/Zheng Siwei
Who are your picks for the Olympic Games?