OLYMPICS LONDON 2012: Disappointed Ouseph crashes out

By Sean-Paul Doran, Sportsbeat, London 2012

GREAT Britain’s Rajiv Ouseph has expressed his disappointment after his London 2012 badminton singles campaign ended in a group stage exit.

DISAPPOINTED: Great Britain's Rajiv Ouseph was disappointed to crash out of the men's singles at the London 2012 Olympics

He fell to an unexpected 21-12, 17-21, 19-21 defeat to Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon to crash out – despite beating Sweden’s Henri Hurskainen in his opening group match.

And Ouseph was left to rue missed chances as Britain’s hopes of badminton success in London were extinguished following teammate Susan Egelstaff’s earlier defeat.

“I had my chance at 19-18 in the third game but I didn’t take it,” said the British No.1. “It was really hard to play on the side I finished on.

“The length was getting short and I wasn’t able to deal with that. When it got towards the end of the game I made some silly choices.”

Ouseph took the first set 21-12 to leave him one set from a last 16 place as the home crowd roared him on, but Cordon fought back to level the match and pile the pressure on the Brit.

In remarkable symmetry to counterpart Egelstaff’s earlier fate, Ouseph squandered a one-game lead to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and exit the competition at the first hurdle.

Despite leading the final game interval 11-9, Ouseph fell to an agonising 19-21 defeat as Cordon seized control of the tie and ended Britain’s badminton hopes.

And the 25-year-old hinted that the experience of competing in front of a home crowd may have added a degree of pressure.

He added: “It was a brilliant crowd, in the first and second matches they’d been great, really encouraging.

“The whole experience was really good. There was a point in the third game when I was 6-2 down. They cheered me back. I’m really thankful for that.

“I think there was a bit of pressure but it’s the same for every athlete at their home Games.”

© Sportsbeat 2012