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.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB