The mixed doubles badminton tournament at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

took place from 24 to 30 July at the

Musashino Forest Sport Plaza The is a multi-sport venue located in Chōfu, Tokyo, Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan. The main arena has a seating capacity of over 10,000, and also includes a swimming pool, a gym, a multi-use sports area and two fitness studios, that is available for ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. There were 16 pairs (32 players) from 15 nations competing.

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Wang Yilyu Wang Yilyu (; ; born 8 November 1994), sometimes also transliterated as Wang Yilu, Wang Yilv or Wang Yilü, is a Chinese badminton player. He is the mixed doubles Olympic Champion at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and was two-time mixed doubles As ...

and

Huang Dongping Huang Dongping (; born 30 April 1995) is a Chinese badminton player. She is the mixed doubles Olympic Champion at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and was three-time mixed doubles Asian Champion, winning in 2018, 2019 and 2024. Huang was ranked first ...

defeated compatriots

Zheng Siwei Zheng Siwei (; born 26 February 1997) is a Chinese badminton player specializing in doubles. He is an Olympic gold medalist, a three-time World Champion and two-time Asian Games gold medalist in the mixed doubles with his current partner Huang ...

and

Huang Yaqiong Huang Yaqiong (, born 28 February 1994) is a Chinese badminton player who specializes in doubles. She is an Olympic gold medalist, three-time World Champion, two-time Asian Games gold medalist, and two-time Asian Champion. She also won a silv ...

in the final, 21–17, 17–21, 21–19 to win the gold medal in mixed doubles badminton at the

. The final featured two Chinese mixed doubles teams for the first time since

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. In the bronze-medal match,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Yuta Watanabe is a Japanese professional basketball player for the Chiba Jets Funabashi of the B.League. He played college basketball in the United States for the George Washington Colonials (now Revolutionaries), becoming the first Japanese-born studen ...

and

Arisa Higashino is a Japanese badminton player. She won bronze in the mixed team event at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships, Asian Junior Championships in 2013 and 2014, and competed at the 2014 BWF World Junior Championships, 2014 World Junior Champions ...

defeated

Tang Chun Man Jordan Tang Chun Man (, born 20 March 1995) is a Hong Kong badminton player. He started playing badminton at the age of seven, and joined the national team when he was 18. He was a 2025 Asian Championships gold medalist, 2018 Asian Games silve ...

and

Tse Ying Suet Tse Ying Suet (, born 9 November 1991) is a Hong Kong badminton player. She was a gold medalist in the 2025 Asian Championships, a silver medalist in the 2018 Asian Games, and two-time bronze medalists in the World Championships. Tse is a four ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

21–17, 23–21. This marked Japan's first Olympic medal in mixed doubles, and made Watanabe the first Japanese male player to win an Olympic badminton medal.

Background

This was the 7th appearance of the event as a full medal event. Badminton was introduced as a demonstration sport in 1972, held again as an exhibition sport in 1988, and added to the full programme in 1992; the mixed doubles tournament was not held in 1992 but has been held since 1996. The reigning champions were

Tontowi Ahmad Tontowi Ahmad (born 18 July 1987) is a retired Indonesian badminton player. He plays for PB. Djarum, a badminton club in Kudus, Central Java and joined the club in 2005. Tontowi Ahmad rose to prominence in the world badminton in 2010 when he pa ...

and

Liliyana Natsir Liliyana Natsir (born 9 September 1985) is an Indonesian badminton player who specialized in doubles. She is one of the standout front court player, with dexterousness and skill in controlling and executing the shuttlecock. Natsir has tremendous ...

of Indonesia, who were not defending their title with both having retired. The top two qualifying pairs were both from China (the only nation to qualify two pairs):

and

. Zheng and Huang were also the reigning world champions.

Qualification

The badminton qualification system provided for 16 mixed doubles teams (32 players). Following revisions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the qualifying periods were set between 29 April 2019 to 15 March 2020 and 4 January to 13 June 2021, with the ranking list of 15 June 2021 deciding qualification. Qualification was done entirely through the ranking list. Nations with at least two pairs in the top 8 were able to send a maximum of 2 pairs (4 players); all other nations were limited to a single pair. Pairs were taken from the ranking list in order, respecting those national limits, until 16 pairs were selected. However, each continent was guaranteed to have at least one pair with the lowest-ranking pairs displaced if necessary to make room for a continental guarantee.

Competition format

The tournament started with a group phase round-robin. There were four groups of four teams each; the top two highest-ranked pairs from each group would move on to a knockout stage. The knockout stage was a three-round single-elimination tournament with a bronze-medal match. Matches were played best-of-three games. Each game was played to 21, except that a pair must win by 2 unless the score reached 30–29.

Seeds

# (silver medalists) # (gold medalists) # ''(quarter-finals)'' # ''(quarter-finals)''

Schedule

The tournament was held over a 7-day period, with 6 competition days and 1 open day.

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Finals

The quarter-finals are held on 28 July, the semi-finals on 29 July, and the medal matches on 30 July 2021.

References

External links

Group play
{{DEFAULTSORT:Badminton at the 2020 Summer Olympics - Mixed doubles Badminton at the 2020 Summer Olympics Mixed events at the 2020 Summer Olympics

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