It is perhaps because they are artists from the same school of badminton – with all its intricacy and playfulness and sometimes erratic inventiveness – that Ratchanok Intanon and Tai Tzu Ying have such a deep unspoken bond.

That is also why Intanon appeared crestfallen that Tai had played her last match at the Olympics at Paris 2024, never mind that she herself had delivered the coup de grâce, which had kept her own Olympic medal hopes alive.

“We know it’s our last match because she will retire after this, so it disturbed my feeling,” said Intanon, struggling unsuccessfully to contain her tears. “I must do it this time because I don’t know about the next four years, whether I can play the next Olympics.

“We will miss each other. We also have the same style, when we play it’s like facing the mirror.

“At the end of the match I told her I was happy we got in together, and I hope she will get better day after day. She wished me good luck.”

Tai herself was weeping inconsolably. It was her dodgy right knee that had let her down. An unspecified injury has bothered her for months, and she was in no condition to mount a challenge. She tried bravely to keep the points going, but Intanon’s razor-sharp shots cut apart her defence. It was a reversal of the result at the last Olympics, when Tai had edged her in a great quarterfinal.

Almost instinctively, Tai understood why Intanon had felt almost guilty at beating her.

“I’ve been playing with Ratchanok for a long time, and our game is also similar, and she has also struggled with injury.

“I wasn’t ready for this event before I came here,” she added. “I knew I wasn’t in the best condition, but I tried my best. I know many people are cheering for me, but I know I’m not well.”