First of all… who knew that badminton had an n before the t?!!? I sure didn’t… surprise surprise. Hopefully I can spell it right from now on. The US does not have a glorious history in badminton, never having medaled.
The Team:
This year’s team is made up of three athletes. Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan will compete in men’s doubles and Rena Wang will compete in women’s singles.
Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.
USA Badminton
Men:
Howard Bach**
Tony Gunawan
Women:
Rena Wang
** – Was on team in 2004 & 2008
Schedule:
Badminton in the Olympics is played best of three games, each game to 21 points (must win by two). If a game reaches 30 points it is automatically over.
The tournament will begin with a round robin group stage for both Men’s Doubles and Women’s Singles play. In Doubles play there will be four groups of four with the top two teams moving on to the quarterfinals. In singles play there will be 16 groups of four with the four group winners moving on to the Round of 16.
All Times ET
Saturday July 28th
3:30 AM – 1:30 PM – Men’s Doubles Group Stage, Women’s Singles Group Stage
Sunday July 29th
3:30 AM – 1:30 PM – Men’s Doubles Group Stage, Women’s Singles Group Stage
Monday July 30th
3:30 AM – 1:30 PM – Men’s Doubles Group Stage, Women’s Singles Group Stage
Tuesday July 31st
3:30 AM – 1:30 PM – Men’s Doubles Group Stage, Women’s Singles Group Stage
Wednesday August 1st
4 AM – 12 PM – Women’s Singles Round of 16
Thursday August 2nd
4 AM – Men’s Doubles Quarterfinals
7:30 AM – Women’s Singles Quarterfinals
Friday August 3rd
4 AM – Women’s Singles Semifinals
Saturday August 4th
4 AM – Men’s Doubles Semifinals
8:30 AM – Women’s Singles Bronze Medal Match and Gold Medal Match
Sunday August 5th
4 AM – Men’s Doubles Bronze Medal Match
8 AM – Men’s Doubles Gold Medal Match
Past Results:
Howard Bach is the only competitor to return to the Olympics for the US, having been to Athens and Beijing. In 2008 he reached the quarterfinals with Bob Malaythong before losing to Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng of China. In 2004, paired with Kevin Qi Han, Bach reached the round of 16 before losing to Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard-Hansen of Denmark.
In 2008 the Women’s Singles athlete from the US failed to advance out of the Round of 64, while no Women’s Singles athlete made the Olympics in 2004. It appears no woman has ever even won a set in the singles competition at the Olympics for the US. The best finish ever by a Men’s Doubles team was in 2008 with the quarterfinal appearance.
There might be some hope for the Bach-Gunawan combination as the two won the 2005 World Badminton Championship. Additionally Gunawan in his younger days competed for Indonesia and won the 2000 Men’s Doubles gold medal. Rena Wang is only 20 so she will be getting a good experience to build on at such a young age, and if she could even win a set for the US it would be a historic accomplishment.
