Two of Taiwan’s tennis stars have chosen their partners for the women’s doubles at the Paris Olympics, the national tennis association (CTTA) said this week.
Hsieh Su-wei, world No. 2 in the women’s doubles, picked 20-year-old Tsao Chia-yi, ranked No. 153, to partner with her at the Summer Olympics in Paris, CTTA secretary-general Jimmy Wang told reporters later that day.
The 38-year-old Hsieh is confirmed to be playing in Paris due to her world ranking.
Photo: AFP
On Thursday, Wang confirmed that Chan Hao-ching, world No. 28, had selected her older sister, Latisha Chan, as her partner.
The younger Chan’s ranking gives her a good chance of being selected for the Olympics, but her confirmation is still pending.
If the Chan sisters compete, it will be their third time playing together at the event.
However, the older Chan has not participated in a tennis competition since October last year due to health issues and is only on the roster through protected ranking.
This mechanism allows players who have not played for an extended period due to injury or illness to use their pre-injury ranking to gain entry into tournaments upon their return.
Olympic tennis regulations say that each nation may send up to two teams to the men’s and women’s doubles events.
The top 10 doubles players in the world can designate another player from their country ranked in the world’s top 300 as their teammate in Paris, which enabled Hsieh to pick Tsao.
The latest world rankings were released on June 10 following the French Open.
Wang said that the association was to hold a meeting yesterday to discuss the team-ups before presenting the list to the national Olympic committee and the National Sports Training Center for consideration.
It would then be submitted to the International Tennis Federation.
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