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Top seeded shuttlers Chen and Jia win women's doubles

2024-08-03 HKT 23:36

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Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan reached the top of the podium at the Paris Olympics. Photo: Reuters

China's badminton pair of Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan on Saturday won an Olympic gold in Paris, defeating compatriots Liu Shenshu and Tan Ning in straight games for the women's doubles title.

Liu and Tan – the third seed at the Paris Games – took a 20-17 lead in the first game, but the top seeded Chen and Jia saved four game points to win 22-20.

Sensing that their opponents' confidence was wavering, Chen and Jia rushed to a 9-2 edge to start the second game, before leading 11-7 at intermission.

Liu and Tan then cut the deficit to bring the score to 11-13, but that was the closest they managed to get, as the top shuttlers won the second game 21-15.

It was China's first gold in the women's doubles since 2012, and sixth since the event became a fixture at the Olympics in 1992.

Chen and Jia had previously come up short in Tokyo, finishing second on the podium after losing to Indonesians Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu.