Badminton at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's singles explained

Event:	Men's singles
Games:	2020 Summer
Venue:	Musashino Forest Sport Plaza
Dates:	24 July – 2 August 2021
Competitors:	42
Nations:	36
Gold:	Viktor Axelsen
Goldnoc:	DEN
Silver:	Chen Long
Silvernoc:	CHN
Bronze:	Anthony Sinisuka Ginting
Bronzenoc:	INA
Prev:	2016 Rio
Next:	2024 Paris

The men's singles badminton tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place from 24 July to 2 August 2021 at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza at Tokyo. A total of 41 players from 36 nations actually competed at the tournament.

Viktor Axelsen of Denmark won his first Olympic gold, defeating defending Olympic champion Chen Long from China. He became the first non-Asian — specifically Danish — to win Olympic badminton men's singles since Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen in 1996.^[1] Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia won bronze by defeating four-time Olympian Kevin Cordón of Guatemala.^[2] He became the first Youth Olympic badminton medalist to win a medal at the Olympics, having also won bronze in 2014.^[3]

Background

This was the 8th appearance of the event as a full medal event. Badminton was introduced as a demonstration sport in 1972, held again as an exhibition sport in 1988, and added to the full programme in 1992; the men's singles tournament had been held since.^[4]

The reigning champion was Chen Long of China, who also won bronze in 2012. 2016 bronze medalist Viktor Axelsen of Denmark also qualified. The top-ranked qualifier was Kento Momota of Japan who was also the reigning world champion.

Qualification

See main article: Badminton at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification.

The badminton qualification system was designed to ensure that 86 men and 86 women receive quota spots; the size of the men's singles field adjusts to hit that target quota. Following revisions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the qualifying periods were set on 29 April 2019 to 15 March 2020 and 4 January to 13 June 2021, with the ranking list of 15 June 2021 deciding qualification.

There were 38 initial quota places for the men's singles: 34 from the ranking list, 3 from Tripartite Commission invitations, and 1 host nation place. Nations with multiple players in the top 16 of the ranking list could earn 2 quota places; all others were limited to 1. Players were taken from the ranking list in order, respecting the national limits, until the places were filled. Each continent was guaranteed one spot, either through the invitational spots or by replacing the lowest-ranked player if necessary. The host nation spot was unused since Japan qualified two players through the ranking list and was reallocated to the ranking list.

Additional places beyond 38 were added where players qualified in both the men's singles and one of the doubles events. This resulted in 3 additional places added to the ranking list. One place was also given to a member of the Refugee Team, Aram Mahmoud.^[5] The total of qualified players was thus 42.

Competition format

The tournament started with a group phase round-robin followed by a knockout stage.^[6] For the group stage, the players were divided into between 12 and 16 groups of between 3 and 4 players each. Each group played a round-robin. The top player in each group advanced to the knockout rounds. The knockout stage was a four-round single elimination tournament with a bronze medal match. If there were fewer than 16 groups in the group stage, some players received a bye in the round of 16.^[7]

Matches were played best-of-three games. Each game was played to 21, except that a player must win by 2 unless the score reaches 30–29.^[7]

Schedule

The tournament was held over a 10-day period, with 9 competition days and 1 open day.^[8] ^[9]

P	Preliminaries	R	Round of 16	QF	Quarter-finals	SF	Semi-finals	M	Medal matches

Date	24 Jul		25 Jul		26 Jul		27 Jul		28 Jul		29 Jul		30 Jul		31 Jul		1 Aug		2 Aug
Event	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	A	M	E	A	E	A	E
Men's singles	P		P		R			QF		SF			M

Seeds

A total of 14 players were given seeds.

(group stage)
(quarter-finals)
(quarter-finals)
(gold medalist)
(bronze medalist)
(silver medalist)
(round of 16)

(group stage)
(round of 16)
(round of 16)
(quarter-finals)
(round of 16)
(group stage)
(group stage)

Group stage

The group stage was played from 24 to 28 July. The winner of each group advanced to the knockout rounds.

Group A

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2
25 July	18:00	Kento Momota	2–0	Timothy Lam	21–12	21–9
26 July	18:40	Heo Kwang-hee	2–0	Timothy Lam	21–10	21–15
28 July	20:00	Kento Momota	0–2	Heo Kwang-hee	15–21	19–21

Group C

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2
24 July	10:20	Ng Ka Long	2–0	Lino Muñoz	21–9	21–10
26 July	14:00	Kevin Cordón	2–0	Lino Muñoz	21–14	21–12
28 July	18:00	Ng Ka Long	0–2	Kevin Cordón	20–22	13–21

Group D

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
24 July	13:00	B. Sai Praneeth	0–2	Misha Zilberman	17–21	15-21
26 July	11:20	Mark Caljouw	2–1	Misha Zilberman	17–21	21–9	21–10
28 July	18:00	B. Sai Praneeth	0–2	Mark Caljouw	14–21	14–21

Group E

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2
24 July	19:20	Viktor Axelsen	2–0	Luka Wraber	21–12	21–11
26 July	10:40	Kalle Koljonen	2–0	Luka Wraber	21–13	21–17
28 July	18:40	Viktor Axelsen	2–0	Kalle Koljonen	21–9	21–13

Group F

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
24 July	20:00	Wang Tzu-wei	2–0	Niluka Karunaratne	21–12	21–15
26 July	20:00	Nhat Nguyen	2–0	Niluka Karunaratne	21–16	21–14
28 July	18:40	Wang Tzu-wei	2–1	Nhat Nguyen	21–12	18–21	21–12

Group G

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
24 July	11:00	Jonatan Christie	2–0	Aram Mahmoud	21–8	21–14
26 July	20:00	Loh Kean Yew	2–0	Aram Mahmoud	21–15	21–12
28 July	19:20	Jonatan Christie	2–1	Loh Kean Yew	22–20	13–21	21–18

Group H

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2
25 July	12:40	Shi Yuqi	2–0	Matthew Abela	21–8	21–9
26 July	19:20	Sören Opti	N/P	Matthew Abela	colspan="3"
28 July	19:20	Shi Yuqi	N/P	Sören Opti

Group I

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2
25 July	10:40	Kanta Tsuneyama	2–0	Julien Paul	21–8	21–6
26 July	14:00	Ygor Coelho	2–0	Julien Paul	21–5	21–16
28 July	19:20	Kanta Tsuneyama	2–0	Ygor Coelho	21–14	21–8

Group J

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2
25 July	13:20	Anthony Sinisuka Ginting	2–0	Gergely Krausz	21–13	21–8
27 July	10:00	Sergey Sirant	2–0	Gergely Krausz	21–18	21–18
28 July	18:00	Anthony Sinisuka Ginting	2–0	Sergey Sirant	21–12	21–10

Group K

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2
25 July	20:00	Kantaphon Wangcharoen	2–0	Kai Schäfer	21–13	21–15
27 July	10:40	Toby Penty	2–0	Kai Schäfer	21–18	21–11
28 July	20:00	Kantaphon Wangcharoen	0–2	Toby Penty	19–21	12–21

Group L

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2
25 July	20:00	Anders Antonsen	2–0	Nguyễn Tiến Minh	21–13	21–13
27 July	20:00	Ade Resky Dwicahyo	2–0	Nguyễn Tiến Minh	21–14	21–18
28 July	20:00	Anders Antonsen	2–0	Ade Resky Dwicahyo	21–16	21–15

Group M

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2
25 July	18:40	Lee Zii Jia	2–0	Artem Pochtarov	21–5	21–11
27 July	13:20	Brice Leverdez	2–0	Artem Pochtarov	21–10	21–8
28 July	20:40	Lee Zii Jia	2–0	Brice Leverdez	21–17	21–5

Group N

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2
25 July	14:00	Chen Long	2–0	Raul Must	21–10	21–9
27 July	10:00	Pablo Abián	2–0	Raul Must	21–7	21–11
28 July	20:40	Chen Long	2–0	Pablo Abián	21–11	21–10

Group P

Date	Time	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
25 July	10:00	Chou Tien-chen	2–0	Felix Burestedt	21–12	21–11
27 July	19:20	Brian Yang	0–2	Felix Burestedt	12–21	17–21
28 July	18:40	Chou Tien-chen	2–1	Brian Yang	21–18	16–21	22–20

Finals

The knockout stage was played from 29 July to 2 August. One round was held per day, with a day off on 30 July. This stage was a single-elimination tournament with a bronze medal match.^[10]

External links

Group play

Notes and References

Web site: Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen to Viktor Axelsen: "This will drive you for the rest of your life". 4 August 2021. 2 September 2021. Olympics.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20210804232119/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/news/hoyer-larsen-viktor-axelsen-this-will-drive-you-for-the-rest-of-your-life. 4 August 2021. live. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. en.
Web site: Indonesia's Anthony Ginting wins in straight sets to secure men's badminton singles bronze. 2 August 2021. 20 August 2021. Olympics.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20210802161219/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/news/indonesia-s-anthony-ginting-wins-men-s-badminton-singles-bronze. 2 August 2021. live. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. en.
Web site: Anthony Ginting grateful for YOG experience after Tokyo 2020 bronze. 11 August 2021. 20 August 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210820063645/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/news/anthony-ginting-grateful-yog-experience-tokyo-2020-bronze. 20 August 2021. Olympics.com. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. en.
Web site: Badminton – The Olympic Journey. 24 July 2021. Badminton World Federation.
Web site: Aram Mahmoud Makes the Cut for Tokyo 2020 . olympics.bwfbadminton.com . Badminton World Federation . 8 June 2021 . 10 June 2021 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210608120504/https://olympics.bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2021/06/08/aram-mahmoud-makes-the-cut-for-tokyo-2020/ . 8 June 2021.
Web site: Tokyo 2020 will be the eighth time badminton is being held as an Olympic medal sport. . 1 March 2021. live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160724214438/http://olympics.bwfbadminton.com:80/about/ . 24 July 2016 .
Web site: Everything you need to know about Olympic Badminton at Tokyo 2020. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 23 June 2021. 23 June 2021. 24 June 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210624215110/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-olympic-badminton-at-tokyo-2020. dead.
Web site: Schedule - Badminton Tokyo 2020 Olympics . Olympian Database . 24 February 2020.
Web site: Badminton Competition Schedule . Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games . 1 March 2020.
Web site: Badminton Men's Singles - Bracket Results . Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games . Olympics.com . 29 July 2021 . 31 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210731070340/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/badminton/bracket-men-s-singles.htm . dead .