Badminton

Stephen Couse
BBC Sport Scotland in Paris

Image source, Getty Images

Team GB's Kirsty Gilmour got her Olympic badminton campaign under way with a comfortable two-set win over Azerbaijan's Keisha Fatimah Azzahra.

The Scot admitted afterwards she still feels nerves despite it being her third appearance at the Games, but that was not evident from her performance as she romped to a 21-13 21-11 victory.

"We hit the ground running and all the things I planned to do I managed to do, so I'm pretty happy," she said.

"We've had a lot of challenges in the preparation for this, mentally and how to pitch ourselves. We've worked through a lot of the emotions that might come up here in training, kind of on purpose and kind of accidentally.

"In that way I feel quite prepared as well, I feel like I'm able to get clarity through those horrible patches. Mentally I feel pretty prepared and physically good too."

He Bingjiao is the Scot's next opponent in the pool stage and she beat Gilmour in two sets at the Indonesia Open when they met last month.

Victory for Gilmour would see her progress from the group stage for the first time at the Olympics, but she admits it will be "a real challenge".

"I didn't have a great performance when we last played," the 30-year-old added. "I had a low energy day, so was fighting my way through that.

"We've had some really close matches in the past - I've taken a few wins and she's won more recently.

"I'm just really looking forward to it and looking at it as a really positive opportunity to show off and play some good badminton."

Sam Drury
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Reuters

Great Britain's Ben Lane and Sean Vendy are out of the men's doubles badminton after losing to China's top seeds Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in three games.

Having lost their opening match on Saturday, the Brits needed to win to maintain any chance of qualifying from Group A.

A close first game ended 21-18 in favour of the Chinese pair before Lane and Vendy stormed back to take the second 21-13.

But Liang and Wang stepped it up in the third, showing far more aggression, and a pinpoint smash from the former sealed a 21-14 triumph.

That ensures the Chinese duo will progress to the next round, while Lane and Vendy will exit after their final group match against Canada's Adam Dong and Nyl Yakura on Monday evening.

Sam Drury
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Reuters

British pair Ben Lane and Sean Vendy were beaten by Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in a hard-fought match to begin their badminton men's doubles campaign.

Lane and Vendy started superbly, going up 5-0 early as they took the first game 21-19 at Porte de la Chapelle Arena.

But Chia and Soh hit back to win the second 21-16 and force a deciding game.

Both pairs were starting to feel the intensity of the first two games but the momentum was with the Malaysians and they pulled away to take the third 21-11 and seal a crucial win.

Lane and Vendy, who lost every match without winning a game in Tokyo three years ago, will likely have to beat top seeds Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang of China in their next match to keep their hopes of progressing from Group A alive.