Lee Yong Dae  / Jung Jae Sung take the Olympic bronze

On the last day of the badminton event at the London Olympics, legendary South Korean player, 32 year old Lee Hyun II, lost to Chen Long, an impressive newcomer from China, in the men’s single bronze medal match in a hard fought match over three games, finishing fourth for his second successive Olympics.

In the men’s doubles bronze medal match, Lee Yong Dae and Jung Jae Sung beat Malaysia’s Tan Boon Heong / Koo Kien Keat in straight games to take bronze, South Korea’s only badminton medal.

In the men’s singles bronze medal match, Lee Hyun II didn’t perform well in the first game and was helpless in the face of Chen Long’s high jumps and smashes; not helped by a series of errors, he quickly lost the first game 12：21.Lee was more proactive in the second game, his precision control of the dropping point creating opportunities to score points. Taking full use of his advantage in front of the net, he was in front throughout and took the game 12：21. In the third and deciding game,Lee seemed to tire, making frequent mistakes in long rallies and also hitting the shuttlecock into the net when attacking on many occasions, letting Chen take the game 21：15, and also win the match.

After surprisingly losing to a pair from Denmark in the semis, in the bronze medal match Lee / Jung started off as if their minds were elsewhere and were put on the ropes by Tan / Koo, at one point trailing 13：18; but the world’s number one pair can never be underestimated and they gradually pulled back with some solid play, surviving three game points to take the first game 23：21. They strolled through the second game, taking it 21：10, to claim the bronze.

At the end of the badminton event at the London Olympics China was the biggest winner, taking five golds.

The men’s singles champion was Lin Dan, with Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei in second and China’s Chen Long in third.The women’s singles champion was Li Xue Rui, in second was China’s Wang Yi Han, with Saina Nehwal of India in third.The men’s doubles champions were Cai Yun / Fu Hai Feng, in second place were Denmark’s Mathias Boe / Carsten Mogensen, with South Korea’s Lee Yong Dae / Jung Jae Sung in third.

The women’s doubles champions were Tian Qing / Zhao Yun Lei, Japan’s Mizuki Fujii / Reika Kakiiwa were in second and, in third, were Valeria Sorokina / Nina Vislova of Russia.The mixed doubles champion were Zhang Nan / Zhao Yun Lei, with China’s Xu Zhen / Ma Jin in second and Denmark’s Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen in third.