Badminton At The 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's Singles
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The women's singles 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 July to 1 August 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 ...
at
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 ...
. A total of 43 players from 37 nations competed.
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 ...
's
Chen Yufei Chen Yufei ( zh, s=陈雨菲, p=Chén Yǔfēi; born 1 March 1998) is a Chinese badminton player. She was the gold medalist in the 2020 Summer Olympics, and also at the 2025 Asian Championships. In her junior career, she won the girls' singles ...
defeated
Tai Tzu-ying Tai Tzu-ying (; born 20 June 1994) is a Taiwanese badminton player. At the age of 22, she achieved world no.1 in the BWF women's singles ranking in December 2016, and has held that title for 214 weeks, the longest in BWF history.See also: N ...
of
Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...
in the final, 21–18, 19–21, 21–18, to win the gold medal in women's singles
badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...
at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In the bronze-medal match,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
's P. V. Sindhu defeated China's
He Bingjiao He Bingjiao (; Mandarin pronunciation: ; born 21 March 1997) is a Chinese badminton player. She won the silver medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics and 2019 Asian Championships. She also won the bronze medals at the 2018 and 2021 World Champions ...
, 21–13, 21–15. This was India's third consecutive medal in this discipline, and Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win two individual Olympic medals (having previously won a silver medal in the women's singles event in 2016).
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
's
Carolina Marín Carolina María Marín Martín (born 15 June 1993) is a Spanish badminton player. She is an Badminton at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's singles, Olympic Champion, three-time BWF World Championships, World Champion, and eight-time Europea ...
was the defending Olympic champion, but withdrew from the event due to a knee injury.


Background

This was the 8th 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 reigning champion was
Carolina Marín Carolina María Marín Martín (born 15 June 1993) is a Spanish badminton player. She is an Badminton at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's singles, Olympic Champion, three-time BWF World Championships, World Champion, and eight-time Europea ...
of Spain. Marín was the 4th-ranked player during the qualifying period and would have qualified to return, but withdrew due to an injury. The other two medalists from 2016, silver medalist P. V. Sindhu of India and bronze medalist
Nozomi Okuhara is a Japanese badminton player. A former World's number 1 in the BWF rankings for the women's singles, she is well known for her speed, agility and endurance. She won a bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and gold medal at the 2017 World Champ ...
of Japan, both qualified with Top-10 rankings. P. V. Sindhu was also the reigning world champion and the only one of the three former Olympic medalists to be medalled again where she won the bronze medal.


Qualification

The badminton qualification system was designed to ensure that 86 men and 86 women receive quota spots; the size of the women's singles field adjusts to hit that target quota. 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. There were 38 initial quota places for the women's singles: 34 from the ranking list, 3 from Tripartite Commission invitations, and 1 host nation place. Nations with multiple players in the top 16 of the ranking list could earn 2 quota places; all others were limited to 1. Players were taken from the ranking list in order, respecting the national limits, until the places were filled. Each continent was guaranteed one spot, either through the invitational spots or by replacing the lowest-ranked player if necessary. The host nation spot was unnecessary (Japan qualified two players through the ranking list) and was reallocated to the ranking list. Additional places beyond 38 were added where players qualified in both the women's singles and one of the doubles events. This resulted in 5 additional places added to the ranking list. One tripartite invitational place was not used. The total qualified list was thus 43 players.


Competition format

The tournament was started with a group phase round-robin followed by a knockout stage. For the group stage, the players were divided into between 12 and 16 groups of between 3 and 4 players each. Each group was played in a round-robin. Players finishing top in each group advanced to the knockout rounds. The knockout stage was a four-round single elimination tournament with a bronze medal match. If there were fewer than 16 groups in the group stage, some players would receive a bye in the round of 16. Matches were played best-of-three games. Each game was played to 21, except that a player must win by 2 unless the score reached 30–29.


Schedule

The tournament was held over a 10-day period, with 9 competition days and a 1 open day.


Seeds

A total of 14 players were given seeds. # (gold medalist) # (silver medalist) # ''(quarter-finals)'' # ''(quarter-finals)'' # ''(quarter-finals)'' # (bronze medalist) # ''(quarter-finals)''
  1. ''(fourth place)''
  2. ''(round of 16)''
  3. ''(round of 16)''
  4. ''(round of 16)''
  5. ''(round of 16)''
  6. ''(round of 16)''
  7. ''(round of 16)''


Group stage

The group stage was played from 24 to 28 July. The winner of each group advanced to the knockout rounds.


Group A


Group C


Group D


Group E


Group F


Group G


Group H


Group I


Group J


Group K


Group L


Group M


Group N


Group P


Finals

The knockout stage was played from 29 July to 1 August. One round was held per day. This stage was a single-elimination tournament with a bronze medal match.


References


External links


Group play
{{DEFAULTSORT:Badminton at the 2020 Summer Olympics - Women's singles Badminton at the 2020 Summer Olympics Women's events at the 2020 Summer Olympics