Japanese shuttler Nozomi takes bronze in Rio

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 19 (IANS) Japanese shuttler Nozomi Okuhara won bronze at the Rio Olympics after injured reigning champion Li Xuerui gave a walk-over in the women's singles bronze medal match of the badminton competition here on Friday.

The former World No.1 Chinese surrendered the match due to an injury, which she faced during her semi-final clash against current No.1 Carolina Marin of Spain.

The 25-year-old Li lost 14-21, 16-21 to the 2014 and 2015 world champion Carolina on Thursday.

The Japanese won her first Superseries title at the 2015 Japan Open.

In 2016, the 21-year-old won the prestigious All England Open tournament, becoming the first Japanese woman player to achieve this feat in the last 39 years.

Okuhara lost her semi-final match against P.V Sindhu on Thursday.