Singles, Men

In the group stages, there were two seeds eliminated. Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (INA), bronze medalist from 2020, was defeated by the host nation’s Toma Junior Popov, in a close match lasting well over an hour by 21-19, 17-21, 21-15. The other seed to be eliminated was Jonatan Christie (INA), who lost to Lakshya Sen (IND) by a score of 21-18, 21-12. All the other groups were won by the-seeded players – besides Popov, the only players to advance not from Asian nations were Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, the 2020 victor in this event, and Anders Antonsen, world ranked second and third.

Three of the top four seeds had a bye into the quarter-finals. The highlight of the round of 16 was the victory of 2023 World Champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA) over Kenta Nishimoto (JPN) by 16-21, 21-14, 21-12 in a match lasting 80 minutes. The remaining matches in this round went to form in the top half of the draw, Lee Zii Jia (MAS) defeating the unseeded Popov by two games to nil. However, in the bottom half of the draw, the lower ranked players all won, Chou Tien-Chen (TPE) defeating Kodai Naraoka (JPN) by 21-12, 21-16, unseeded Lakshya Sen (IND) defeating his countryman H. S. Sunil Kumar 21-12, 21-6, and finally Loh Kean Yew (SGP) winning by 23-21, 21-15 against higher ranked Li Shifeng (CHN), winner of the Boy’s Singles at the 2018 Youth Olympics.

In the quarter-finals, the lower-seeded players continued their success in the top half of the draw. The top seed Shi Yuqi (CHN) lost to the lower-seeded Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21-12, 21-10. Lee Zii Jia then defeated the Dane Anders Antonsen 21-17, 21-15. In the lower half of the draw, a close encounter saw Lakshya Sen overcome Chou Tien-Chen 19-21, 21-15, 21-12, in the only quarter-final to go to three games. Viktor Axelsen completed the semi-final line-up with a comfortable victory over Loh Kean Yew by 21-9, 21-17.

With no Chinese players in the semi-finals, Viktor Axelsen saw an opportunity to defend his title, and defeated Sen by 22-20, 21-14. His opponent in the final was to be Vitidsarn, who defeated Lee in the other semi-final by 21-14, 21-15.

In the match for the bronze medal, after an uncertain start it was Lee who defeated Sen by 13-21, 21-16, 21-11. In the final, Vitidsarn tried his best but was outclassed by a dominant Axelsen, who won 21-11, 21-11, so retaining his Olympic crown.