Brunei Darussalam badminton player Jaspar Yu Woon Chai's momentous Olympics competitive adventure came to an end after he fell to a straight set 21-12 21-10 defeat to Spain's Pablo Abian in the Group 'D' men's singles event at the Pavilion 4, Riocentro yesterday.

The national shuttler has played his final group game after starting out a historic Olympic campaign against world number 12 Hu Yun in a 21-16 21-15 loss the day before.

Similar to his contest against Yun, Brunei top player showed indomitable fighting spirit despite appearing as the lowest ranked player in the discipline.

The Bruneian ace matched the current European Games champion in every department in the first few points in the first set and stormed to an early 4-2 lead.

Jaspar Yu delivered two head shots which caught the white tape as his eventual conqueror could do nothing but gaze an incredible shot. Abian contested one of Jaspar's finishes with the review system which has been implemented to determine the correct call through the advent of modern technology.

Replays indicated Jaspar Yu's shot was good and the shuttler collected precious points.

When Jaspar smashed a shot, Abian somehow returned to the court though the Bruneian chose not to challenge the call whether the Spaniard shot should be called out.

The Bruneian, who was involved in a longest rally of 22 shots in 22 seconds against his Hong Kong counterpart on Saturday, was again a part of another entertaining piece of action when Abian returned his shot from between his legs before landing a devastating smash to the right.

The multiple national championship winner took the first set and strolled to a comfortable 17-8 lead in the final set and the Bruneian managed to gain a ,couple of points before the Spaniard closed out the match 21-10 to move to a decider against Hu Yun.

Jaspar's remarkable journey to the Olympics epitomised the dedication and commitment of the athlete to realise his ambition even if it only meant stepping into court in the grandest stage of all.

The Bruneian athlete battled for inclusion with participation in ranking tournaments as well as intensive training camps and received his hard earned berth at the Rio Olympics after he was awarded the Tripartite Commission Award as one of only three players.

His journey has led him to become the first badminton representative Sultanate at the Olympics.

Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM

by BruDirect.com

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