Badminton’s world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying yesterday was handed a tough draw at Thailand’s World Tour Finals, as she was bracketed with home favorite Ratchanok Intanon and Indian star P.V. Sindhu.
Tai, former world champion Ratchanok and Olympic silver-medalist Sindhu were grouped with Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong in Group B for the round-robin stage of the biosecure tournament in Bangkok.
Tai faces Sindhu today.
Photo: BADMINTON ASSOCIATION OF THAILAND / AFP
The delayed season finale from last year is the third
behind-closed-doors event in three weeks in the Thai capital as badminton resumes after months of near-inactivity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spanish top seed Carolina Marin, seeking a hat-trick of wins in Bangkok, faces South Korean teen An Se-young, Canada’s Michelle Li and Russia’s Evgeniya Kosetskaya in Group A.
In the men’s singles, Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen — who is also unbeaten over the past two weeks — faces Taiwan’s world No. 2 Chou Tien-chen, Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting and Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in Group A, while Taiwan’s Wang Tzu-wei faces Anders Antonsen of Denmark, Angus Ng of Hong Kong and Kidambi Srikanth of India in Group B.
Chou is to play Lee today, while Wang faces Ng.
Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin of Taiwan face Malaysian pairing Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi , and two Canadian duos in Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge, and Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in Group A of the men’s doubles.
Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin are to play Ong and Teo in their first match.
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