Defeat by Guatemala Player Ranked 59th in Men's Badminton Singles
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] 'The protagonist of the upset,' Heo Gwanghee, was caught off guard by another 'protagonist of the upset' he met in the quarterfinals of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
On the 31st, Heo Gwanghee lost 0-2 (13-21, 18-21) to Guatemala's Kevin Cordon in the men's singles quarterfinals of badminton held at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo, Japan.
Heo Gwanghee advanced directly to the quarterfinals by defeating Japan's world No. 1 Momota Kento 2-0 in the second match of the group stage. This was the biggest upset in badminton at this tournament.
Kevin Cordon, who faced Heo Gwanghee that day, was also a protagonist of a comparable upset.
Ranked 59th in the world, Cordon advanced to the round of 16 by defeating world No. 9 Ng Ka Long Angus (Hong Kong) 2-0 in the group stage, and then defeated world No. 29 Mark Caljouw (Netherlands) in the round of 16 to reach the quarterfinals.
Cordon is a left-handed badminton veteran from South America who has appeared in four Olympic Games in his career, including Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016, and this year's Tokyo Games.
In this clash of upsets, Heo Gwanghee was defeated.
From the start of the first game, Cordon pushed Heo Gwanghee with aggressive play. Heo's movements were not as light as when he defeated Momota. Unable to withstand the opponent's attacks, Heo's strength?his aggressive smashes?did not come through.
After falling behind from 4-5 to 4-7, Heo failed to block Cordon's powerful jump smashes. The score gap widened from 8-14 to 10-17, and Heo lost the first game.
In the second game, Heo chased from 4-10 to 7-10. His aggressive play revived, and he tied at 12-12 and succeeded in taking the lead at 13-12.
Although Heo was hit in the face by a shuttlecock from Cordon and lost the lead again, he fired up his fighting spirit and pulled ahead 16-14.
However, Heo was caught up again at a tie and conceded two points in a row at 17-17, giving Cordon the ticket to the semifinals.
Cordon, whose best Olympic result had been the round of 16 at the London Olympics, set a new personal best by reaching the semifinals in Tokyo.
If Heo Gwanghee had won this match, Korean badminton could have achieved the feat of reaching the men's singles semifinals at the Olympics for the first time in nine years since Lee Hyun-il.
Lee Hyun-il reached the semifinals consecutively at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympics but unfortunately finished in fourth place.
The only Olympic medal in Korean men's singles badminton is the silver medal won by Son Seungmo at the Athens 2004 Olympics.
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