Scott Evans progressed to the last 16 in the men's badminton at the Olympics last night with victory against Brazilian Ygor Coelho de Oliveira.
The Dubliner was booed throughout by those supporting the Brazilian player. After winning the first set easily, Evans let the crowd get to him in the second set, falling well behind before eventually clawing back a substantial lead to narrowly lose. His recovery would continue in the third set where he again won easily.
After beating Marc Zwiebler in his second match at the Olympics, Evans celebrated wildly. He whipped off his shirt and roared towards the crowd.
Despite the partisan support for the local boy, Evans did the same after beat de Oliveira on Saturday night. The boos rang out even louder.
Speaking to Darragh Maloney on RTÉ, Evans explained his celebration. It was not planned. It was simply a spontaneous decision following the win against Zwiebler.
After beating de Oliveira, it was a bit more calculated. He wanted to bait the crowd.
I just felt like I needed to do something and I took my shirt off, turned around and looked at my coach and just looked at my mom and dad and a couple of friends in the crowd aswell, it was just an absolutely amazing feeling.
Last night, I probably played a bit of a show because the crowd was destroying me the whole game. So it was just to spur them on a little bit more. I saw some videos this morning, my coach wasn't too happy about it. I think he was more worried about what would happen after the game.
In the last 16, Evans faces a much tougher opponent - world number four Viktor Axelsen.
If he wins, Evans says a lot more than his shirt may be taken off.
If I win tomorrow, there might be a bit more than my t-shirt coming off.
You can watch Evans on RTÉ below.
Scott 'Stripper' Evans' next match may require a PG 18 rating https://t.co/p8xNSM3ziB
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 14, 2016
