PARIS: Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen retained his Olympic badminton title on Monday (Aug 5), demolishing Thailand’s world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn within the males’s singles remaining in Paris.
Backed by a vocal crowd of Danish followers at La Chapelle Enviornment, the second-seeded Axelsen battled previous his eighth-seeded opponent 21-11, 21-11 in 52 minutes.
The lanky Dane turned the primary man to retain his Olympic males’s singles title since Chinese language legend Lin Dan, who gained in 2008 and 2012.
Vitidsarn’s silver was Thailand’s first-ever Olympic medal in badminton.
The Thai made a great begin however Axelsen quickly settled into his rhythm and constructed up a commanding lead within the first sport.
He closed it out in 24 minutes, elevating his hand in apology after profitable the sport with a shot that hit the web tape and flopped over.
Axelsen was once more unstoppable within the second sport, unleashing the complete pressure of his 1.94m body to rain down smashes.
After clinching the title, he grabbed a Danish flag and tore across the enviornment.
Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia took bronze after beating India’s Lakshya Sen 13-21, 21-16, 21-11.
China topped the badminton medals desk for a seventh straight Olympics, profitable golds within the blended and girls’s doubles.
Taiwan gained males’s doubles and South Korea’s An Se-young took gold in ladies’s singles.