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PARIS 2024 is now in its final week, with more exciting sporting events still to come.
To cover badminton at the Olympics, the BBC has lined up two commentators who bring a wealth of experience.
AFPWho are the badminton commentators?
Sam Smith
DSEGSam Smith is a former professional tennis player, who was the British ladies’ No. 1 from 1996 to 1999.
She now commentates on the game, predominantly for the BBC, ITV, Sky Sports, BT Sport, Eurosport & Amazon Prime.
Smith was born in Epping, Essex, and received her education at Bancroft’s School.
She took a three-year break from tennis to attend the University of Exeter, where she earned an upper second-class Honours degree in history.
During her professional career, Smith competed on the WTA Tour, participating in major tournaments including Grand Slam events.
She had many significant performances, reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon in 1998 and the second round of the Australian Open in 1999.
After retiring from tennis, Smith transitioned to a career as a sports commentator.
Since 2009 Smith has provided commentary for the Australian Open for the Seven Network and since 2019 the Nine Network.
Simon Reed
You Tube/This MorningSimon Reed is a British sports commentator and journalist, born on August 5, 1947, in Sutton, Surrey.
He is known for his work as a commentator on a variety of sports.
Over his career, he has worked for several prominent broadcasting networks, including Eurosport.
In addition to his work in tennis, his voice has also been heard on the television show Dancing On Ice.
Reed began his career in tennis commentary in 1984 for Channel Four.
He joined Eurosport in 1991 and has been a significant part of their commentary team, becoming the head of the team in 1995.
Since 2000, Reed has also been part of the BBC’s Wimbledon commentary team and he has commentated on all four Grand Slam tournaments.
In addition to Grand Slams, he has covered numerous ATP and WTA tour events.
When are the badminton events?
The badminton events at the 2024 Paris Olympics will take place from July 27, 2024, to August 5, 2024.
The competitions will be held at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena.
Badminton Olympics schedule
The schedule for the badminton events is as follows:
- July 27-31: Group play for men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles.
- August 1: Round of 16 for men’s singles and women’s singles, mixed doubles semifinals.
- August 2: Quarterfinals for men’s singles and women’s singles, semifinals for men’s and women’s doubles, and medal matches for mixed doubles.
- August 3: Quarterfinals for women’s singles, and medal matches for women’s doubles.
- August 4: Semifinals for men’s and women’s singles, and medal matches for men’s doubles.
- August 5: Medal matches for men’s and women’s singles
What medals have been won so far for badminton?
As of now, the badminton events at the Paris 2024 Olympics have seen several medalists in different categories.
Following medals have been won:
-
Mixed Doubles:
- Gold: Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong (China)
- Silver: Kim Won-Ho and Jeong Na-Eun (South Korea)
- Bronze: Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino (Japan)
-
Women’s Doubles:
- Gold: Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan (China)
- Silver: Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning (China)
- Bronze: Matsuyama Nami and Shida Chiharu (Japan)
-
Men’s Doubles:
- Gold: Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin (Chinese Taipei)
- Silver: Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang (China)
- Bronze: Chia Aaron and Soh Wooi Yik (Malaysia)
The Men and Women Single Medal Matches are happening on Monday, August 5, 2024.
At 13:30, the Men’s Singles Bronze Medal Match in badminton will take place between Zii Jia Lee from Malaysia and Lakshya Sen from India.
Following this, at 14:40, the Men’s Singles Gold Medal Match will occur, with Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand competing against Viktor Axelsen from Denmark.
At 09:55, the Women’s Singles Gold Medal Match started with An Se Young from South Korea playing against He Bing Jiao from China.
What's happening today at The Games?
WHAT TO WATCH TODAY
TODAY’S BRIT MEDAL HOPES
One of the hottest spectacles of Paris 2024 is the 1500m men’s final (7.50pm) – will it be gold for either Josh Kerr or Jakob Ingebrigtsen in their epic rivalry?
World champion Sky Brown, now 16, wants to upgrade her Tokyo bronze to Paris gold in the women’s park skateboarding final but is battling back from a dislocated shoulder (4.30pm).
Ben Maher on board Dallas Vegas Batilly is into the final of the individual jumping equestrian alongside Harry Charles and Scott Brash after coming through the 74-rider qualifying and could defend his Tokyo gold after already securing the team title in Paris (9am).
BRITS TO WATCH
Jack Laugher goes in the 3m springboard diving preliminaries with Jordan Houlden (9am) before Andrea Spendolini Sirieix goes in the 10m platform final (2pm).
Lewis Richardson is already guaranteed a bronze in the 71kg boxing but has his semi-final at Roland Garros at 8.45pm.
The women’s 200m gives Dina Asher-Smith a chance to make up for her disappointing 100m result (final 8.40pm).
Jack Carlin, Ed Lowe and Hamish Turnbull team up in the track cycling men’s team sprint today with the final at 7.10pm, hoping to wrestle back the gold they won in Beijing, London and Rio.
GLOBAL STARS TODAY
Emma Hayes’ USA women’s football team face Germany in the semi-final in Lyon (5pm).
Kellie Harrington will go for back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the ring with the Irish star’s 60kg final vs China’s Yang Wenlu at 10pm – two bouts after Imane Khelif’s 66kg semi-final.
FANCY SOMETHING DIFFERENT?
It wouldn’t be the Olympics without some wrestling would it?
There is both freestyle and Greco-Roman disciplines throughout the day at the Champ-de-Mars Arena in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
STATS MAD
A Hoy Where? For the first time since Atlanta 1996, the Team GB cycling track team will neither feature a certain Sir Chris Hoy nor Sir Jason Kenny. Just the 16 Olympic medals between those two legends, 13 of them gold.
Follow all the action as it unfolds with our Paris 2024 Olympics LIVE blog.
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