Taiwan’s top athletes are to compete in a government-organized competition starting today as part of their preparations for the Summer Olympics, with badminton and table tennis pitting their top women against male opposition to give them top-level competition.
On Monday, women’s badminton world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying is to play Tsai Chieh-hao, a national team training partner, to give her a challenge at a time when Tai has been unable to face elite competition in the women’s ranks.
Similar to Tai in badminton, a female competitor is to face male opposition in table tennis.
The world No. 4 mixed doubles duo of Cheng I-ching and Lin Yun-ju are to play 2013 World Championship men’s doubles gold medalists Chuang Chih-yuan, who is 39, and Chen Chien-an, 29.
Cheng said the match against Chuang and Chen Chien-an, currently ranked eighth in the world in men’s doubles, would help evaluate her partnership with Lin.
The eight-day, 12-discipline event is to be held by the Sports Administration at the National Sports Training Center’s main site in Kaohsiung and a shooting facility in Taoyuan, organizers said.
Taiwanese athletes had secured 32 spots in 10 sports, including gymnastics, table tennis and archery, at the Tokyo Olympics, before the Games were suspended for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other sports at the event are archery, judo, taekwondo, weightlifting, shooting and boxing.
The action is to be streamed live on the Sports Administrations’ YouTube channel and broadcast on ELTA TV.
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