Taiwan’s Hsieh Yu-hsing coasted to a 21-16, 21-12 win over Iranian Kaveh Mehrabi yesterday and although China’s leaders have repeated the mantra, ad nauseam, that the Olympic Games should not be politicized, its badminton fans had other plans yesterday.
When Hsieh took to the court, the Beijing crowd treated him as one of their own.
At one point during Hsieh’s match against Iran’s Kaveh Mehrabi someone in the crowd tried several times to start the chant “Go Team Taipei!” but the other spectators were not having it.
Moments later, a spectator on another side of the gymnasium started shouting “Go Team China!” and it caught on and was repeated throughout the match.
“It felt like I was back on my home court, like I was competing in Taiwan,” Hsieh said. “The crowd was really into it.”
But wouldn’t they be chanting something slightly different in Taiwan?
“Yes, yes,” Hsieh said. “But I wasn’t really thinking about it, I was just trying to be serious and play each game well.”
In other the matches, Canadian Anna Rice overcame opening-day nerves yesterday to defeat Eva Lee of the US in three sets at the Olympic badminton tournament.
Rice defeated Lee 21-15, 19-21, 21-19 in the first round of women’s singles at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium.
In earlier matches, Maria Kristen Yulianti of Indonesia rallied to defeat Juliane Schenk of Germany 18-21, 21-13, 22-20, setting up a second-round showdown with Spain’s Yoana Martinez. Martinez was a 21-9, 21-16 winner over Australia’s Erin Carroll.
Other first-round winners included Japan’s Eriko Hirose who defeated Iceland’s Ragna Bjorg Ingolfsdottir 21-6, 19-7.
Ingolfsdottir was forced to retire in the second set after twisting her left knee.
Larysa Gryga of Ukraine downed Italy’s Agnese Allegrini 21-15, 21-11. Egypt’s Hadia Hosny beat Mexico’s Deyanira Angulo 21-18, 7-21, 21-14.
The Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 36 points from Tyrese Maxey and a triple-double from Joel Embiid, on Thursday beat the Houston Rockets 128-122 in an NBA overtime thriller. Cameroonian big man Embiid scored 32 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out 10 assists, posting the ninth triple-double of his career to help the Sixers end the Rockets’ three-game winning streak. Rockets star Kevin Durant scored 36 points and Amen Thompson added 17, but Thompson was scoreless in the fourth quarter. Even so, the Rockets led by nine midway through the final frame, Maxey tying it at 115-115 with 40.1 seconds left. Durant missed a
The Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo on Friday said that he will probably be out for an extended period after hurting his right calf again after a similar injury caused him to miss eight games earlier this season. Antetokounmpo had his right calf wrapped in the first half of their 102-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets. He did not appear comfortable the rest of the night and left for good with 34 seconds remaining. “At the end, I could not move no more, so I had to stop playing,” Antetokounmpo said. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player said he expected to undergo an MRI
Taiwanese FORTUNES: Wu Fang-hsien and Hsieh Su-wei both advanced to the last 16 of the women’s doubles, but Ray Ho was ousted in the men’s doubles Carlos Alcaraz yesterday stepped up his quest to win a maiden Australian Open as he overwhelmed showman Corentin Moutet to reach the last 16, while Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Hsieh Su-wei both advanced to the last 16 of the women’s doubles. Three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev battled through on day six at a warm and sunny Melbourne Park, as did Coco Gauff. Top seed Alcaraz was never in danger against French 32nd seed Moutet, easing through 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 at Rod Laver Arena in 2 hours, 5 minutes. It was the Spaniard’s 100th Grand Slam match and he boasts a remarkable 87-13 win-loss record,
LICENSE TO THRILL: Fans of Learner Tien, the youngest man to reach the quarter-finals in 11 years, wore ‘L Plates,’ signs for learning drivers, in support of the 20-year-old Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Japanese partner Eri Hozumi yesterday dominated eighth seeds Ellen Perez of Australia and the Netherlands’ Demi Schuurs to advance to the Australian Open quarter-finals, the furthest the Taiwanese has made it since her first appearance in Melbourne in 2020. Wu and Hozumi overpowered world No. 21 Perez and world No. 20 Schuurs 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour, 11 minutes at 1573 Arena in much cooled temperatures since Saturday’s blazing 40°C disrupted play. World No. 34 Wu has now made it further in the Australian Open since she was knocked out in the third round in 2024. The Taiwanese-Japanese duo
RSS