HK's women's badminton duo keep Olympic dreams alive

Hong Kong's badminton pair of Lianne Yeung and Yeung Pui-lam have staved off elimination from the Paris Olympics, after beating their American counterparts in a grueling match in the early hours of Monday. The SAR shuttlers recovered a day after losing their opener against a pair from Bulgaria, to beat US twins Kerry and Annie Xu 2-1. After trailing by eight points at one point, the SAR duo went on a 12-4 run to close the first game 24-22, saving four game points in the process. The Xus fought one back, 21-17, taking advantage of the Hong Kong pair's mistakes in quick succession towards the end of the second game. As fatigue appeared to affect the Americans more, the Hong Kong shuttlers won the decider, 21-11, for their first point of the tournament. The Yeungs will battle Team China's Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning on Tuesday. If the SAR loses, the pair will need the Americans to beat the Bulgarian sisters, Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva, by a wide margin for them to have a chance to advance.