In Nguyen’s last match he beat Sri Lanka’s Niluka Karunaratne to straight sets but todays opponent would be much harder.

One of the best thing about the Olympics is the way relatively unknown sportspeople can become stars in a flash.

Nhat Nguyen is one of those stars. He bossed it today in the badminton. He's back on the court Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/H7IrRZL7wf

— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) July 26, 2021

At 10:40, Ireland’s big badminton match started. Wang’s quality was noticeable with each swing, proving he is a major candidate for a medal at the Games.

Nguyen did not just come to match to take part and made the Chinese Taipei man earn every score.

The first set started with Nguyen getting a few scores intermittently in between Wang’s great plays. Many scores came after long, fast rallies.

The Irishman made a late flurry but it wasn’t enough to beat Wang’s great attack and net play. The first set ended 21-12 to Wang.

The 21-year-old from Dublin started the stronger in the second set, gaining a 10-4 lead. Wang’s energy dipped leading to unforced errors.

He did fight back to narrow the gap with the Irish player until they were together at 15. The two continued to trade rallies and scores until Nguyen pulled off some brilliant plays to win the set 21-18.

The final set would decide everything. Wang’s confidence had been shaken by the last set and the world number ten came out stronger.

Nguyen needed to keep the scores close as his opponent started to tire and the scores were level at four apiece.

The Irish player rightly been compared to a cat as he jumped across the court. He enjoyed his game, smiling even when he lost a score.

Wang upped his game after the halfway mark, scoring some hard smashes to gain a four point lead on Nguyen.

With a lead of 15-12, Wang sustained a slight neck injury but decided to continue. After his check-up, he found new life and pulled further away.

It just wasn’t to be for Nguyen as Wang won the third set 21-12, winning the game. With only one person qualifying from each group, sadly this is the end of Ireland’s journey in badminton in Tokyo.

#Badminton

Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu-Wei takes the third set 21-12, and the 2-1 victory.

A warriors performance from Nhat Nguyen on his Olympic debut against the number 10 seed. End of the competition for Nguyen, finishing 2nd in his group #TeamIreland #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/hXGb7zIIYW

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) July 28, 2021

Nhat Nguyen was Ireland’s sole representative for badminton in the Olympics, ranked at 54th in the world.

There is most definitely a bright future for him in the sport and he will be looking to improve on this again in Paris in three years time

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The 21-year-old never dropped his lead and was 10 points ahead at one point in the game.

Nguyen started strong with his energy clearly shining through his bright start but his opponent pegged him back within reach every time the Team Ireland Olympian tried to run away with it.

A tight first set offered a test for the Dubliner but Nguyen maintained the numerical advantage throughout.

Karunaratne was determined and gave the Vietnamese-born Irishman a big challenge but the 21-year-old was able to pull away in the final third and set up five potential game points to give himself some breathing room.

He only needed two of those, taking the set courtesy of a mistake from the Sri Lankan.

There were some magnificent rallies throughout the game, most notably two rallies at the beginning of the second set, with varying results.

However, Karunaratne could not sustain the pressure he put on Nguyen in spells.

Nguyen, a first-time Olympian, looked impressive against the experienced Karunaratne, who never took the lead throughout the game.

Karunaratne struggled after dipping the first set to the Irish star and the competitive nature of the game slipped away as Nguyen imposed his dominance in the tie.

The combined fourteen possible game points, nine of those match points, is a clear example of the dominant affair the match turned out to be.

Nguyen dropped four of those points with three match points dropped but held on to win in two sets.

The 2-0 win secured a first Olympic victory for the Badminton prospect in his first Olympic match.

Nguyen will now face Chinese Taipei’s Tzu-Wei Wang with a win against the Asian enough to confirm a spot in the last 16 for the young prospect.

The post Team Ireland Star Nhat Nguyen Off To Winning Start appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Day Two

Mixed Doubles

Sam and Chloe Magee progress to the last 16 with a hard-fought win over Tiers Van Der Lecq and Debora Jille of the Netherlands 21-14 19021 21-14

Paul Reynolds and Rachael Darragh lost out to their higher-ranked opponents Eloi Adam and Margot Lambert of France 17-21 16-21

Men’s singles

Nhat Nguyen progresses to the last 16 of the Men’s singles with a win over Zvonimir Durkinjak of Croatia 23-21 21-14

Women’s Singles 

Rachael Darragh played another good singles match but was unable to get the win against Ksenia Polikarpova of Israel losing 14-21 18-21

“The team did a great job on day two of the championships. Sam and Chloe used their experience to get through a tough last 32 match. Nhat Nguyen also stepped up to the mark against a very tricky opponent in Zvonimir Durkinjak. Rachael Darragh performed well in both her mixed and singles and despite not getting a win today she will have learned a lot from the matches she had. Two last 16 places put Ireland in a good position on Day three of the championships. We hope we can go at least one step further after the matches tomorrow”

Badminton Ireland HP Director Daniel Magee

Results

Mixed Doubles

RD 32Sam Magee and Chloe Magee (IRL) Bt Tiers Van Der Lecq and Debora Jille (NED) 21-14 19-21 21-14

RD 32 Paul Reynolds and Rachael Darragh (IRL) Lost to Eloi Adam and Margot Lambert (FRA) 17-21 16-21

Men’s singles

RD 32 Nhat Nguyen (IRL) bt  Zvonimir Durkinjak (HR) 23-21 21-14

Women’s Singles

RD 32 Rachael Darragh lost to Ksenia Polikarpova (IL) 14-21 18-21

rm reaching the last 16 off the event

Nhat Nguyen is into last 16 of the European Championships beating Zvonimir Durkinjak of Croatia 23-21 21-14 pic.twitter.com/HIi1qEcSFc

— Badminton Ireland (@irishbadminton) April 28, 2021

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