Badminton: 'King' Viktor Axelsen of Denmark Lords Over Nepal's Prince Dahal to Open Paris 2024 Campaign
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Loading... - Maxim Sidorov
- 29 Jul 2024
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Prince Dahal was nowhere close to the throne, unfortunately.
Reigning Olympic men's badminton singles champion Viktor Axelsen was absolutely regal in his return to the Olympic stage at Paris 2024, beating his Nepalese opponent 21-8, 21-6 in Group P play on Saturday, 27 July. Axelsen won the match in a mere 28 minutes.
“I think today was a good start for me, you know, with all due respect,” Axelsen told Olympics.com. “Prince and I, maybe the level of tournaments we usually play there's a little bit of a difference. But today I really wanted to come in and set a high pace from the start and really get a feel of the whole, and I think that I managed to do so.”
The great Dane won the gold medal at Tokyo 2020 in the COVID bubble without fans, his tearful emotional outburst after the final becoming one of the most memorable moments of those delayed Games.
Axelsen’s next match is on Monday, when he plays Israel’s Misha Zilberman.
“It feels amazing,” Axelsen said. “Last time there were no spectators and to play in an arena like this, such a beautiful arena. So many supporters on day one — amazing, and I'm so thankful for this experience. To be honest right now, I just want to get home. It’s very late, get something to eat, and then tomorrow I have a day off so I can prepare well for the next challenge. I’m just very, very happy to have started here.”
Elsewhere on the first day, People's Republic of China athletes won all seven matches across the five disciplines without dropping a single game, led by the men’s singles top seed Shi Yu Qi, who outclassed Soren Opti of Suriname 21-5, 21-7 in less than half an hour.
Thailand's eighth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn defeated Georges Julien Paul of Mauritius 21-9, 21-12 while Kevin Cordon, the Guatemalan who reached the semi-finals at Tokyo 2020 out of nowhere, suffered his first loss here 21-8, 22-20 to India's Lakshya Sen.
In the women’s singles, Nos. 5 and 6 Yamaguchi Akane of Japan and China's He Bing Jiao got the job done in straight sets over Thet Htar Thuzar of Myanmar and Keisha Fatimah Azzahra of Azerbaijan, respectively.
There was a notable upset in the women’s doubles as the Danish duo of Maiken Fruergaard/Sara Thygesen stunned the No. 2 seeds from the Republic of Korea, Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee 21-18, 9-21, 21-14.
