Expected to be a medal rush for this tournament, Japan Badminton, which has been aiming for more than one gold medal and one bronze medal at the previous Rio de Janeiro tournament, ended up with one bronze medal for mixed doubles.
"Disastrous defeat"
Before the Games, it was the mixture that was farthest from the world before the Games, with Kento Momota in the men's singles and Yuki Fukushima and Ayaka Hirota in the women's doubles, who held the number one position in the world ranking. With only doubles, the Japanese national team was defeated at the Olympic Games held in their own country.
What stood out in this tournament was the loss in reverse.
The pair of Wakana Nagahara and Mayu Matsumoto, who are second in the world in the women's doubles, lost in the reversal while holding match points and disappeared in the quarterfinals.
Nozomi Okuhara of the bronze medalist women's singles of the previous tournament who set the goal of gold medal also lost in the reverse while taking the first game and did not even advance to the semifinals.
What impressed me was what Nagahara said after the defeat, "I had a hard time trying to get the last one, but I couldn't show my strength at the end."
The Japan Rugby Football Union, which has been strengthening its efforts, will be required to urgently analyze and rebuild the strengthening, as to what was the reason why it was not possible to exert its strength at the end while aiming for a medal rush.