DAKAR, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Miku Matsushima, 13, has shown that she can be just as formidable as her elder brother, Sora, teaming up with Ryuusei Kawakami to win the mixed doubles gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games.
With Sora ranked world No. 1, Miku tops the girls' U15 rankings and sits second in the U19 category. She is also currently ranked No. 205 in the senior women's world rankings.
The mixed doubles final proved to be a thrilling contest. The Japanese pair split the first two games with Li Ki Ho and Su Tsz Tung from Hong Kong, China before dominating the third to take a 2-1 lead. They then found themselves trailing 6-10 in the fourth game but refused to give in, saving four game points before closing out the match 11-9, 10-12, 11-6, 13-11.
Both Matsushima and Kawakami have secured places in the singles quarterfinals, while China's Yao Ruixuan suffered an early exit from the women's singles event, two days after she and Li Hechen were knocked out of the mixed doubles by the Japanese pair.
Yao fought back from a 1-3 deficit to level the match at 3-3, but Chinese Taipei's Chen Min-hsin dominated the deciding game to seal a 4-3 victory in the 68-minute encounter, with the game scores of 12-14, 13-11, 14-12, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6.
Li Hechen advanced to the men's quarterfinals with a straight-games 4-0 victory over Argentina's Agustin Asmu (11-3, 11-5, 14-12, 11-4).
China swept all three titles at the previous two editions of the Youth Olympic Games, with Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha winning all three gold medals at the most recent edition.
