The 31st Summer Olympic Games, Rio

South Korea failed to bring home a medal after Day 10 at the Rio Olympics, as many of the country’s best badminton players suffered shock defeats, including the top-ranked men’s duo of Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong.

At the quarterfinals held at the Pavilion 4 of Riocentro on Monday, Lee and Yoo went off to a good start against by 12th-ranked Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia, claiming the first set by a score of 21-17.

However, they lost the following two sets, dashing the goal of South Korea reclaiming an Olympic title in badminton men’s double after Lee and Lee Hyo-jung won gold at Beijing 2008.  

Earlier in the day, another South Korean men's doubles team, Kim Sa-rang and Kim Gi-jung, fell to Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan of China by a set score of 2-1 in the quarterfinals.

Team Korea had mixed results in women’s doubles, with Jung Kyung-eun and Shin Seung-chan advancing to the semifinals, beating the Dutch duo of Eefje Muskens and Selena Peik by a set score of 2-1.

Chang Ye-na and Lee So-hee, however, bowed out of the last eight, losing to Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark 2-1.

In mixed doubles, world’s 2nd-ranked Ko Sung-hyun and Kim Ha-na also failed to progress to the semifinals, succumbing to China’s Xu Chen and Ma Jin 2-0.

In men's singles, Son Wan-ho beat Hong Kong’s Angus Ng 2-0 to go through to the last four, where he will face Chen Long of China.

Sung Ji-hyun also advanced to the quarterfinals of women’s singles with a 2-0 victory over Bulgaria’s Linda Zetchiri. Sung will go up against top-seed Carolina Marin of Spain in the semis.  

Bae Yeon-ju, however, crashed out of the round of 16 with a 2-0 loss to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara.

Elsewhere in Rio, South Korean track and field athlete Kim Deok-hyeon failed to make it to the final in the men’s triple jump.

He reached 16-point-36 meters, finishing in 27th place among 48 contestants. 

Meanwhile, North Korea’s Ri Se-gwang won the men’s vault final, giving the North its second gold medal at Rio.

As of the end of Monday, South Korea remains 10th in medal standings with six gold, three silver and five bronze medals.