Ouseph bows out but Farah marches on in Rio

OusephFarah2016

Hounslow duo Rajiv Ouseph and Mo Farah experienced mixed emotions at the Olympics on Wednesday.

Ouseph’s dream of a badminton medal ended when the 13th seed was beaten by world number four Viktor Axelsen 21-12 21-16 in the quarter-finals.

But Farah survived another trip scare to qualify for the men’s 5,000m final as his pursuit of a long-distance Olympic ‘double double’ continues.

Ouseph had pulled off one of the best results of his career on Monday in beating Tommy Sugiarto, the world number nine.

But he had few answers to the power of 6ft 4in Axelsen, the best player in Europe, who he had only beaten once before in five meetings.

Ouseph struggled from the off and found himself 20-7 down in the opening game, saving five game points before a fault gifted it to the Dane.

The second game was closer, with Ouseph reading more of Axelsen’s attempts to manoeuvre him around the court, but he couldn’t apply enough scoreboard pressure to prevent defeat.

Farah, meanwhile, is on course for the remarkable feat of winning gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m at two successive Games.

Having recovered from a mid-race fall to retain his 10,000m title, he also stumbled on the final lap of the 5,000m heats on Wednesday.

This time, though, he managed to stay on his feet after an accidental collision with America’s Hassan Mead.

West Drayton’s Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, meanwhile, qualified for the women’s 800m semi-final.

She came third in her heat, which included favourite Caster Semenya of South Africa, and went through as one of eight fastest losers.