Taiwanese badminton stars Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin yesterday advanced to the gold medal match of the men’s doubles, while Taiwanese top seed Tai Tzu-ying got off to a rough start in a nail-biting women’s singles quarter-final against Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, but rallied with a series of flash backhand smashes.
Lee and Wang beat Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-11, 21-10 in their men’s doubles semi-final to set up a shot at the gold medal against China’s Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen, who had a 24-22, 21-13 win over Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.
Tai rallied from a game down to defeat Intanon 14-21, 21-18, 21-18.
Photo: AFP
At one point, the Taiwanese hit two stunning backhands in quick succession while on the floor, prompting disbelieving gasps and cheers from the scant audience at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza.
Tai is to face Rio de Janeiro Games silver medalist P.V. Sindhu in the semi-finals after the Indian used her height advantage to smash her way to a 21-13, 22-20 victory over Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi.
Earlier, Chinese world No. 2 Chen Yufei prevailed 21-18, 21-19 against South Korea’s An Se-young.
“Being patient is the only way you can win in the game,” Chen said.
Chen next plays her teammate He Bingjiao, who rallied to beat Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara 13-21, 21-13, 21-14.
“It doesn’t matter now who wins the game tomorrow as long as we do our best,” Chen said.
China, who have yet to lose a single badminton match to another nation at the Games, won gold and silver in the mixed doubles after Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping beat favorites Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong 21-17, 17-21, 21-19.
For over an hour, the four players who regularly train with one another put on a show of sharp drop-shots, solid smashes and lengthy rallies.
After world No. 3 Wang and Huang pulled off a rare win over their top-ranked compatriots, both pairs were euphoric up on the podium and the new Olympic champions playfully bit into their gold medals.
“I feel blank,” said Wang, who was tackled onto the court with a hug by his much smaller teammate when they won. “It was easier because it was our teammates — we didn’t have as much of a psychological burden.”
Japan bagged their first-ever Olympic mixed doubles bronze medal when Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino, who have played together for a decade, defeated Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet 21-17, 23-21 in a tight match.
Exhausted, the Japanese both said there were times they wanted to throw in the towel.
Watanabe said he was honored to be the first Japanese man to win an Olympic medal in badminton.
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS