Unseeded Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan beat Sayaka Sato of Japan on Saturday in the women’s singles final of the US Open Grand Prix Gold tournament to win her first international championship.
Tai, ranked No. 24 in the world by the Badminton World Federation, won the match 21-16, 19-21, 21-6 against eighth-seeded Sato, ranked No. 19 in the world.
A day earlier, the 17-year-old upset fifth-seeded Eriko Hirose of Japan in straight sets to advance to the final of the US$120,000 event.
Tai’s best showing prior to this victory was at the Li-Ning Singapore Open Super Series last year, in which she reached the women’s singles final before losing to Saina Nehwal of India.
Tai has always had the makings of one of the nation’s top badminton prospects.
She qualified for the top badminton division as a sixth grader, the fastest to rise to such a level since Cheng Shao-chieh, who was seeded second in US Open women’s singles, but lost in the quarter-finals.
She also represented Taiwan in the 2009 East Asian Games and at the biennial Sudirman Cup this year.
If Tai can keep her ranking high through next year, she could earn a spot at the London Olympics.
Qualifiers for the London Games will be chosen based on players’ federation rankings as of May 3 next year.
However, Tai’s father is in no rush to see his daughter compete for an Olympic medal.
“I told her that she was not playing for me and that we weren’t in a rush. Even if she can’t go to London next year, she can always work toward the 2016 or 2020 games,” her father said.
In the other action, Taiwan’s Chen Hung-ling and Cheng Wen-hsing lost in the mixed doubles final to Lee Yong-dae and Ha Jung-eun of South Korea 21-19, 21-13.
Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) yesterday beat Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in their women’s singles semi-final match to advance to today’s final at the Thailand Open. The top-seeded Tai overcame a 10-21 first-game loss to seventh seed and former world champion Ratchanok to dominate the final two games 21-13, 21-19 in 58 minutes of play at the Impact Arena in Bangkok. World No. 2 Tai is today to face world No. 4 Chen Yufei of China. Chen yesterday bested Pusarla Venkata Sindhu 21-17, 21-16 to secure her spot in the final of the Super 500 tournament. On Friday, Tai overpowered China’s He Bingjiao 21-10,
Politicians are meant to kiss babies, not crash into children, but on the campaign trail yesterday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison barrelled into a young boy during a friendly kickaround, eliciting a chorus of stunned “ooohs” and “aaaws” from spectators. Morrison was playing five-a-side soccer in northern Tasmania, where he is trawling for votes ahead of Saturday’s election. At first, Morrison — shorn of his jacket, but still sporting a shirt and tie — sauntered around the field somewhat aimlessly, trying to get a toe on the ball here and there as it ping-ponged from boy to boy. However, then the 54-year-old stepped
Wimbledon, widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament, was on Friday stripped of ranking points by the sport’s main tours in a move that threatens to reduce the Grand Slam to the status of a high-profile exhibition event. The decision by the ATP and WTA was in response to Wimbledon banning Russian and Belarusian players following the invasion of Ukraine. “It is with great regret and reluctance that we see no option but to remove ATP Ranking points from Wimbledon for 2022,” an ATP statement said. “Our rules and agreements exist in order to protect the rights of players as a
Faced with a machete, a fighter leaps and locks his legs around another man’s neck, bringing him crashing down to a cacophony of cheers. This is vovinam, Vietnam’s acrobatic martial art with roots dating back to the country’s struggle for independence, and it is showing at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games for the first time since 2013. Proponents are trained to use not only their hands and legs to grapple a rival to the ground, but also fend off assailants armed with blades. Short for “Vo Viet Nam” (literally “Vietnamese martial arts”) it was inspired by nationalists who sought an end to the