[Yonhap News Photo ]
The No. 1-ranked men's badminton duo of Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong suffered a shocking defeat in the quarterfinals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Monday.
The 12th-ranked Malaysian team of Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong stunned the South Koreans 2-1 (17-21, 21-18, 21-19) at Riocentro-Pavilion 4, sending the gold medal favorites packing after just one knockout match.
Lee and Yoo had been 5-1 against the Malaysians prior to the Rio Games.
The South Koreans were coming off a loss in their final group stage match, though they'd already clinched a knockout spot by then. They had said they would go back to the drawing board and seek to address issues that emerged from that loss. Yet problems still lingered against Goh and Tan.
Lee and Yoo were unable to take control of the match, even with a slim 10-8 lead in the first game. It was their biggest lead of the opening frame until they finally pulled away from the pesky Malaysians 20-16, and closed them out 21-17.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
