London 2012: Badminton star Rajiv Ouseph misses his golden chance

by Paul Chronnell Tuesday, July 31, 2012
4:55 PM

Hounslow’s British champion beaten 2-1 by Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon to go out

Rajiv Ouseph was denied a last-16 spot in the men’s badminton singles when he fell at the last gasp in his clash with Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon at Wembley Arena.

The British No1 from Hounslow, who had a fine victory over Sweden’s Henri Hurskainen in his Olympic opener on Sunday, found himself on the wrong end of a 21-12, 17-21, 19-21 scoreline on Tuesday afternoon.

He started well and dominated the opening set and, even after being pegged to 1-1, engineered a number of opportunities to claim victory in the decisive set.

Ouseph won European bronze in 2010 and became the first English player to reach the podium in 16 years, as well as winning the US Open and Commonwealth Games silver in the same year. But his defeat marked the end of a disappointing singles campaign for Team GB.

He said: “The last set was incredibly tight, I had my chances but Kevin came back at me extremely well. He closed the game out well and played the better badminton over the last few points.

“I thought I was comfortable in the first set but I should not have put myself in the position I found myself at the end of the second set. Even so, it’s great to be have been part of Team GB and the experience has been a very good one indeed with the support we’ve enjoyed.”