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.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set