Chinese badminton pairs Yu Yang and Tang Yuanting compete in the match at the Rio Olympic Games, Aug. 17, 2016. (Photo/Chinanews.com)
(ECNS) -- The Chinese badminton team is facing a mojor challenge, with seniors being out of form and newcomers inexperienced, said Yu Yang after losing the women's badminton doubles semifinal at the Rio Olympics.[Special coverage]
For the first time in 20 years, the Chinese women's doubles team failed to advance to the Olympics final as Yu and Tang Yuanting lost their match one set to two to Denmark's Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl.
The loss followed both pairs being knocked out of the semifinals in mixed doubles. China's hopes of repeating their 2012 Olympic sweep of all five badminton gold medals were shattered.
Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan will now carry the nation's hopes after defeating Britain in the men's badminton doubles to qualify for the final.
Yu said Tang suffered from a low fever recently and was not in her best form for the women's doubles match.
She added that older badminton players are falling from their best form while younger team members are not ready to make a big enough impact.
The age gap between younger and older Chinese players is too big, according to Yu.
Many things can happen after a team is formed a year and a half before the Olympic Games, so it's difficult to decide the best pair, she added.
