Badminton Preview
Heading into this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, USA Badminton will look to capture its first medal since badminton became an Olympic sport in 1992. Badminton continues to be a growing sport in the U.S., and with many athletes ranked among the best in the region, the U.S. hopes for a run to the podium in 2021.
At the Games, badminton consists of a single-elimination tournament. Each match is played to the best of three games, with each game played to 21 points. In singles, the top eight players are seeded according to the world rankings. In doubles, the top-four pairs are seeded. All competitions will have a group phase followed by playoffs to reach the finals.
In accordance with the Badminton World Federation qualification system for Tokyo 2020, the Badminton World Federation rankings for each respective event as of June 15, 2021, were used to allocate quota places in men’s and women’s singles, and men’s, women’s and mixed doubles. Each list was based on results achieved during the two Olympic qualification periods of April 29, 2019, to March 15, 2020 and Jan. 4, 2021 to June 13, 2021.
As her country’s top-ranked talent, Beiwen Zhang stands tall as Team USA’s best chance for the badminton podium in Tokyo, and perhaps its best chance in the history of the sport at the Olympic Games. Zhang will be competing in her first Olympic Games and is currently ranked 14th in the world in women’s singles. She has captured multiple titles over the last few years in some of the world’s largest tournaments.
Timothy Lam is the top-ranked men’s singles player in the U.S. and achieved a world ranking sufficient to qualify for Tokyo. Tokyo would be the first Olympic appearance in his young career.
Updated on June 29, 2021. For more information, contact the sport press officer here.