Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s singles at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals in Bangkok, while fellow Taiwanese Chou Tien-chen fell to his third straight defeat in the men’s singles.
The showdown between Tai and Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand was evenly matched in the first two games with scores of 21-10, 12-21, until the Taiwanese 28-year-old galloped away to victory in the decider 21-7 to land the final spot in the semi-finals.
Earlier, world No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi saw off a threat from Indonesian newcomer Gregoria Mariska Tunjung to book a spot in the semis with a 21-15, 13-21, 21-18 victory.
Photo: AP
He Bingjiao of China clocked her third win of the tournament, rallying to overpower local hope Busanan Ongbamrungphan 8-21, 22-20, 21-13 to advance.
Olympic champion Chen Yufei knocked out South Korean young gun An Se-young in straight games 21-16, 21-12.
In the men’s singles, Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie defeated Chou 21-13, 12-21, 21-17, but he had to wait for fellow Indonesian Anthony Ginting to booked him a semi-finals berth by notching a hat-trick of victories.
Seventh-ranked Ginting upstaged world No. 3 Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 21-12, 23-21.
“I’m really, really feeling happy and grateful,” Ginting told reporters after the match, joking that Christie owed him one.
World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen had his aura of invincibility shaken with a surprise loss to India’s H.S. Prannoy.
The defeat was only the third this year for the dominant 28-year-old Dane, who eventually succumbed 21-14, 17-21, 18-21, but Axelsen — who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics last year — still advanced to today’s semi-finals albeit with his confidence slightly bruised.
Prannoy had nothing to lose in yesterday’s clash after two losses earlier in the week meant he was ineligible to advance to the next round.
Axelsen started strong, winning the first game 21-14, and looked like he was cruising toward a straight-games victory as he took a four-point lead early in the second, but 30-year-old Prannoy, ranked 12th in the world, did not give up and after the interval clawed his way back to claim the second game 21-17.
Prannoy — who helped India make history in May when they hoisted the Thomas Cup for the first time — then deployed clever net work to build an advantage in the final game, putting Axelsen under pressure and leading to a 21-18 win.
Japan’s Kodai Naraoka rounded out the men’s semi-finals lineup after knocking over China’s Lu Guangzu 21-19, 21-15.
The BWF shifted its US$1.5 million flagship event to the Thai capital’s Nimibutr Arena after original host China dropped the tournament due to its tough COVID-19 restrictions.
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
RSS