Rajiv Ouseph fails to proceed in Men’s Singles event of 2012 London Olympics – Badminton News
It was tough day in office for Great Britain’s Rajiv Ouseph as he failed to overcome the lower ranked Kevin Cordon in group match and crashed out of the London Olympics on July 31, 2012.
This Group M match was staged at court number one of Wembley Arena and both contenders kept the audience intact while piling up final margin of 21-12, 17-21 and 19-21.
The British campaigner had a great support of local crowd but the opposing shuttler proved a tough nut to crack in the ending two games.
Meanwhile, the Guatemala shuttler stood full to his stature in pressure situation and locked the honour in a splendid manner.
World Number 25 player Rajiv aroused hopes of his supporters by clinching very first match point but he frittered away this effort in crucial moments of the tussle.
In first set of the match, he launched a brisk attack and pushed his challenger on the back-foot straight away in the beginning.
He continued playing with authoritative approach throughout the first half and placed an indomitable total of 11 points.
Rajiv injected more intensity in his campaign immediately after the interval and left the opposing shuttler far behind by prevailing in few back-to-back rallies.
The unseeded shuttler Kevin could not withstand this intensive invasion and surrendered after reading 12-21 score on the board.
However, he did not take much time to make amends and brought the contest to the right balance by clinching very next match point.
This time he picked the bird early by moving swiftly across the court. He matched his competitor’s skills in all areas of the game and finished the first half with a respectable figure of 11 on the points table.
Kevin maintained a slight edge after the mid-game break and bagged the second set with a decent total of 21-17.
The British spectators were expecting Rajiv to bounce back in third set but their hopes got buried when the Guatemala shuttler struck hard in the end and reserved a berth in round of 16.
Kevin, who was underdog earlier in this event, stayed close to his challenger throughout the decider and left him far behind with a giant leap to decisive margin of 21-19.
With this woeful defeat, it was end of road for Great Britain in the badminton event as all of its shuttlers have bid farewell to the London Games.
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