28 July, 2024
Ben Lane and Sean Vendy have set their sights on finishing with a flourish after their group-stage Olympic exit was confirmed.
The Team GB pair were beaten in three games by world no.1s Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in a hard-fought clash lasting just over an hour at La Chapelle Arena.
After losing the opening game 21-18, Lane and Vendy fought back to level matters by taking the second 21-13.
The decider went the way of Liang and Wang, however, as they won it 21-14 to book their place in the quarter-finals.
“Tough day, tough match,” said Lane. “We’ve come out on the losing side of the game twice but we gave it our all in both matches, in the preparation and build-up to this great tournament.
“Unfortunately, we’ve just come up short twice.”
Lane and Vendy had beaten the Chinese pair once in three previous meetings, at the 2022 French Open, but were unable to repeat the trick on the biggest stage.
They conclude their campaign against Canada’s Adam Dong and Nyl Yakura, who the British duo beat while representing Team England on their way to Commonwealth Games silver two summers ago, on Monday evening (7.20pm BST).
“We’ll get ready and obviously we’ve got one more match left to play so we’ll give it our all,” Lane said.
“We’ll focus on ourselves and on recovery for the rest of the day and prepare well for tomorrow.”
Monday’s action also sees Team GB’s third and final badminton representative, Kirsty Gilmour, start her women’s singles campaign.
The three-time Olympian, 30, faces Azerbaijan’s Keisha Fatimah Az Zahra at 7.30am as she looks for the victory which would set up a winner-takes-all clash with China’s He Bingjiao the following day.
Bingjiao, a two-time World Championship bronze medallist, started with a comfortable straight games victory over Az Zahra in Sunday’s Group N opener.