Denmark beats Indonesia for mixed doubles bronze

The gold-medal match was later Friday between Chinese pairs,No. 1-ranked Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei and No. 2 Xu Chen and Ma Jin.

The first Olympic medal for Fischer and Pedersen was also Denmark’s first in badminton since Athens. They missed a badminton medal at the games for the first time in Beijing.

Denmark coach Lars Uhre said a medal and a semifinal were their targets in London.

We have accomplished that in a very impressive way, Uhre said. We feel we were very close to going to the final with this pair,and we are so far very proud of our team,everyone has performed.

It’s hard to be unhappy,and we hope for more, he added,knowing Matthias Boe and Carsten Mogensen were still to play their men’s doubles semifinal.

Indonesia,on the hand,the best medal-winner after China with 18 including six golds,finished empty-handed at an Olympics for the first time and was set to return home to critical reviews.

The pressure Ahmad and Natsir felt as their country’s last hope in badminton came in the apology Natsir,a silver medalist in Beijing,felt was necessary after their match.

We are really sorry, she said. There was a real pressure on us for this match and we are really sorry we couldn’t meet the target. We just have to accept the result as it is.

Fischer and Pedersen came together four years ago but their progress was stymied by Fischer’s knees. He needed operations on both,the last in 2010 which sidelined him for six months and took longer to rebound from. When he was fit,the pair showed their worth by reaching five consecutive Super Series finals last year.

However,they were upset in the quarterfinals of the world championships by Ahmad and Natsir.

After losing to Zhang and Zhao in the semifinals on Thursday,when they led 19-18 in the third then Pedersen netted three times,they knew they had to get over their misery quickly.

I didn’t get any sleep, Fischer said. This morning I was tired,and my body was killing me. But me and my partner and our coach,we promised each other we would do everything we can to win the match today,and we are proud to do it.

Fittingly,match point was won by Pedersen at the net. Pedersen,25,to Fischer’s 33,said they will continue for as long as his knees hold up.

We won’t say we will play for four more years,she said. When Joachim can’t play we will stop.