Source:REUTERS/IVAN ALVARADO
[Saba Sports News] Badminton made its debut at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Since then, the sport has become a regular event at every Olympic Games. Although the United States is a sports powerhouse, badminton is one of the few Olympic sports in which the U.S. team has never won a medal. In the past eight Olympic badminton competitions, the United States team’s longest run was the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At that time, the American men’s doubles team advanced to the quarterfinals. In order to compete for medals in badminton at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the United States team will send seven athletes to participate. Among them, women’s singles player Zhang Beiwen is the U.S. team’s medal hope. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Zhang Beiwen advanced to the top 16 of women’s singles. Unfortunately, she suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon during the game and eventually retired in tears. Men’s singles player Howard Shu qualified for the Olympic Games again after participating in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Five other Team USA athletes will compete in the Olympics for the first time, including twin sisters Annie Xu and Kerry Xu in the women’s doubles, and Vinson Chiu and Joshua Yuan in the men’s doubles. In the doubles competition, Vinson Chiu and Jennie Gai will compete in the mixed doubles competition. According to the schedule, the Olympic badminton competition will be held from July 27 to August 5, and the first medal will be awarded on August 2, which is a mixed doubles competition.