Badminton gets underway at Tokyo 2020 Olympics

The action is well underway in Tokyo with Team GB kicking off their Olympic campaign on Saturday.

Saturday saw Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith get off to a great start with a win against France’s Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue. The pair secured their opening victory, taking the first match 21-18 21-17.

Sunday’s battle against their Canadian opposition Joshua Hurlburt-Yu and Josephine Wu also ended in victory, securing their place in the last eight with a 21-13 21-19 win.

Smith was back on court with partner Chloe Birch on Saturday evening, kicking off their women’s doubles campaign against their Japanese counterparts.

Unfortunately the top seeds, Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota proved too strong for the British pair, securing a 21-13, 21-14 win. Smith and Birch will face Indonesia’s Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu in a tough test on Monday.

Men’s doubles Ben Lane and Sean Vendy also faced a tough battle against world No.1 pairing, Indonesia’s Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in their opening match on Saturday. The pair lost 15-21, 11-21 and will be back on court on Monday to face Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin.

Tuesday will see the beginning of the women’s and men’s singles events with returning Olympian Kirsty Gilmour facing Pakistan’s Mahoor Shahzad in her opening match.

Gilmour has come up against Shahzad once before at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Team event – winning their women’s singles tie 21-6, 21-10.

Men’s singles Toby Penty will face a familiar opponent in his opening match on Tuesday; Penty has beaten Germany’s Kai Schaefer four times in their five meetings

Keep up to date with live Olympic badminton action on BBC Sport and see the latest results and schedules here.