Canadian Michelle Li lost in two sets to a tough opponent on Thursday in the round of 16 of the women’s Olympic badminton tournament in Tokyo.
The Ontarian has never been able to pick up her pace in this close match against the Japanese Nozomi Okuhara, 3rd favorite in the Olympic tournament.
She was quick in the first round she won 21-9 in just 17 minutes.
The Canadian was more convincing on the restart to find herself tied 4-4.
Okuhara, however, quickly regained control of the match. She scored 17 of the next 19 points to go 21-7 with the inning and knock out the Maple Leaf representative.
The latter had won her first two matches of the competition against Slovakia’s Martina Repiska and Nikte Alejandra Sotomayor of Guatemala.
Michelle Li was making her third Olympic appearance in Tokyo. She finished 4th in doubles and 17th in singles at the London Olympics. Four years later, in Rio, she was again ranked 17th in singles.
