CHINESE women’s singles shuttler He Bingjiao reached the final of the Olympics for the first time in Paris, but she was not celebrating.
She did not beat her opponent. In fact, it was Carolina Marin who had looked to be on course for a relatively easy win.
The Spaniard was leading 10-6 after winning the first game 21-14, but an awkward landing left her with a knee injury at Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle yesterday.
A tearful Marin had to surrender the match and withdraw. The 31-year-old looked to be in tremendous pain but did try to continue playing with a knee brace but she was forced to throw in the towel after struggling to move on court and giving away two points.
Marin, who captured gold in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, could not hold back her tears as she fell to the floor. The crowd in the stadium gave her a standing ovation.
It was especially heartbreaking for Marin after she came back from two knee surgeries to compete in the Olympics again. And this injury could well spell the end of her stellar badminton career.
Bingjiao, however, felt sorry for Marin and hoped to see her recover and come back to play again.
“I feel very sad to see these kind of things. Marin recovered from injury and came back to play,” said Bingjiao in a post match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“I hope this time she overcomes this injury and comes back again. Marin was playing perfectly well until the injury while I was very passive and I didn’t think about the final at all.
“It was difficult for me as I only won 14 points in the first and I was losing in the second game too.”
Bingjiao will now take on South Korea’s world and Asian champion An Se-young in the final.
Se-young fought hard to overcome Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska 11-21, 21-13, 21-16 in the other last four match.
With Marin out, Gregoria will automatically win the bronze to become the sole Indonesian medallist in the competition.
The last Indonesian to win an Olympic medal in the women’s singles was Maria Kristin Yulianti, who also captured bronze 16 years ago at the 2008 Beijing Games.
