NHAT NGUYEN SHOWED that the future of Irish badminton is bright as he came out on the wrong side of a three-game thriller against world number 10 Tzu-Wei Wang.
After winning his opening group match on Monday, Nguyen met Wang in a winner-take-all showdown for a place in the quarter-finals.
But the young Dubliner’s debut Olympics came to an end with a 21-12, 18-21, 21-12 defeat at Musashino Forest Plaza.
“I have no regrets,” Nguyen said afterwards.
“I wanted to leave it all on the court and I felt I left it all on the court, fighting and jumping around for every point.”
Wang — who is 44 places above Nguyen in the world rankings — seized the initiative to build up a big lead early on and win the opening game.
With coach Davis Efraim watching on from courtside, 21-year-old Nguyen brushed it off and bounced back superbly, putting his more more experienced opponent under pressure as he raced into an early 10-4 lead in the second game.
When Wang responded to draw level at 15-15, Nguyen was totally unfazed and won a huge point to go 17-16 in front after a see-saw rally.
From there, he didn’t look back, a challenge at 19-18 going Nguyen’s way to bring up two game points which he closed out.
Neither man could build up any significant advantage at the start of the third game, with the match still hanging in the balance at 11-11.
After edging a few points clear, Wang took a short medical break to consult the doctor on what appeared to be a neck injury.
But when he returned after a short break, he showed no signs of any ill effects and pulled clear to book his place in the quarter-finals where he will face Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen — who beat Ireland’s Scott Evans at the same stage in Rio five years ago en route to a bronze medal.
