The Chinese duo Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen, the badminton women's doubles champions at the Athens Olympic Games, were eliminated by Japanese shuttlers in the quarterfinals at the Beijing Olympic Games on Monday.
The world No. 1 lost to 8th-ranked Maeda Miyuki and Suetsuna Satoko 21-8, 21-23, 14-21.
"It is the biggest win in my life. I am very happy to win the match because they are the gold medalists. Even when we got 20 points, we cannot be sure of winning," said Maeda after the match.
The Japanese duo intensified their attacks after losing the first game, and won quite a few points from Yang and Zhang's mistakes. They got down on their knees and shouted with ecstasy after beating the Chinese rivals.
However, Maeda said they did not expect to reach the final as they have already won two matches in the Olympic Games.
Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen admitted that their competence had reduced although their forms were Ok.
"We made terrible mistakes when we took the lead at 19-17 in the second game. In the third game we could not concentrate," Yang said.
Yang added they had played with the Japanese pair before the Olympic competition, which was also a very difficult match. At that time, Yang and Zhang lost the first game and lagged behind 10-20 in the second one, although they finally claimed the victory.
"The Japanese pair are more patient. They speeded up in the last two games and our morale went down," Yang said.
Zhang Jiewen commented on their defeat that "It's OK, we have thought about this before. We tried our best and have no regrets."
(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2008)