Canadians Jason Ho-Shue and Nyl Yakura had quite a challenge to get into the doubles tournament. They crossed swords with Indonesians Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, ranked 2nd in the world, and were defeated 12-21 and 11-21.
The representatives of the maple leaf did not do much better in mixed doubles. Joshua Hurlburt-Yu and Josephine Wu lost in two sets of 13-21, 6-21 to third seed Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand.
Canada’s women’s doubles team of Rachel Honderich and Kristen Tsai offered more resistance, but to no avail. The Canadians lost their flag in three innings of 21-16, 14-21 and 15-21.
The three duos will be back in action on Sunday. Michelle Li will make her singles debut against Nikte Alejandra Sotomayor of Guatemala. Canada’s Brian Yang’s schedule, due in singles, has yet to be determined.
With eight badminton athletes in Tokyo, Canada has its biggest team at any Olympics.
