Taiwan’s Hsieh Yu-hsing coasted to a 21-16, 21-12 win over Iranian Kaveh Mehrabi yesterday and although China’s leaders have repeated the mantra, ad nauseam, that the Olympic Games should not be politicized, its badminton fans had other plans yesterday.
When Hsieh took to the court, the Beijing crowd treated him as one of their own.
At one point during Hsieh’s match against Iran’s Kaveh Mehrabi someone in the crowd tried several times to start the chant “Go Team Taipei!” but the other spectators were not having it.
Moments later, a spectator on another side of the gymnasium started shouting “Go Team China!” and it caught on and was repeated throughout the match.
“It felt like I was back on my home court, like I was competing in Taiwan,” Hsieh said. “The crowd was really into it.”
But wouldn’t they be chanting something slightly different in Taiwan?
“Yes, yes,” Hsieh said. “But I wasn’t really thinking about it, I was just trying to be serious and play each game well.”
In other the matches, Canadian Anna Rice overcame opening-day nerves yesterday to defeat Eva Lee of the US in three sets at the Olympic badminton tournament.
Rice defeated Lee 21-15, 19-21, 21-19 in the first round of women’s singles at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium.
In earlier matches, Maria Kristen Yulianti of Indonesia rallied to defeat Juliane Schenk of Germany 18-21, 21-13, 22-20, setting up a second-round showdown with Spain’s Yoana Martinez. Martinez was a 21-9, 21-16 winner over Australia’s Erin Carroll.
Other first-round winners included Japan’s Eriko Hirose who defeated Iceland’s Ragna Bjorg Ingolfsdottir 21-6, 19-7.
Ingolfsdottir was forced to retire in the second set after twisting her left knee.
Larysa Gryga of Ukraine downed Italy’s Agnese Allegrini 21-15, 21-11. Egypt’s Hadia Hosny beat Mexico’s Deyanira Angulo 21-18, 7-21, 21-14.
An “outstanding” 17-year-old Chinese badminton player died of cardiac arrest after collapsing on court during a tournament in Indonesia, officials said yesterday. Zhang Zhijie was playing a match late Sunday against Japan’s Kazuma Kawano at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The score was 11-11 in the first game when Zhang fell to the floor between points. The teenager received treatment at the venue and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, but passed away later that night after repeated efforts to resuscitate him failed. “Medical conclusions ... indicated that the victim experienced sudden cardiac arrest,” Broto Happy, spokesman for
Taiwan will have two pairs vying for the women’s doubles at the Olympic Games’ tennis event in Paris as Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and her older sister Latisha Chan (詹詠然) officially clinched their third straight Olympic berth, the Chinese Taipei Tennis Association said Thursday. According to the association, the International Tennis Federation confirmed Wednesday evening the Chan sisters’ qualification for the event, meaning they will join the duo of Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and Tsao Chia-yi (曹家宜) to compete in the quadrennial sports jamboree. There are 16 entries in each doubles event. Hsieh, ranked No. 2 in the world on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)
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Taiwan is to have two pairs vying for the women’s doubles at the Olympic Games’ tennis event in Paris as Chan Hao-ching and her older sister Latisha Chan officially clinched their third straight Olympic berth, the national tennis association said on Thursday. The International Tennis Federation on Wednesday evening confirmed the Chan sisters’ qualification for the event, meaning they would join the duo of Hsieh Su-wei and Tsao Chia-yi to compete in the Olympics. There are 16 entries in each doubles event. Hsieh, ranked No. 2 in the world on the Women’s Tennis Association doubles rankings as of Monday, secured her slot earlier,