Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying won her group yesterday in the women’s singles badminton competition to advance to the 16-player elimination round, where she immediately faces a daunting challenge.
The 18-year-old, currently ranked 13th in the world and seeded 10th in London, won her three-player group as expected by defeating Victoria Montero of Mexico 21-6, 21-10.
Tai had previously defeated Anu Nieminen of Finland, also in straight games, to finish atop her group with a 2-0 record and book a spot in the knockout stage.
Photo: Reuters
In her next match, she faces third seed Li Xuerui, one of the three Chinese players expected to sweep the medals in the event.
Li may be the hottest of the three. She has won four of the past five singles events she has played in, the only blemish coming at the Indonesia Open in mid-June when she lost to Saina Nehwal of India in the final.
Tai has a puncher’s chance, having played well in spurts against the 21-year-old Chinese in two recent matches.
She lost 9-21, 21-16, 21-10 to Li at the All England Open on March 1 and 21-8, 21-19 at the French Open in October last year.
Taiwan’s other competitor in the women’s singles, Cheng Shao-chieh, also won in her group to advance to the elimination round.
Cheng, seeded seventh, won her three-player group by defeating Neslihan Yigit of Turkey 21-10, 21-6 yesterday.
Cheng had previously beaten Simone Prutsch of Austria, also in straight games.
In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s “golden duo” of Chien Yu-chin and Cheng Wen-hsing came agonizingly close to clinching a place in the quarter-finals Monday, only to fall to the verge of elimination, but then pull qualification back from the brink yesterday.
Chien and Cheng lost to Jwala Gutt and Ashwini Ponnappa of India, 25-23, 16-21, 21-18 in the second of their three group matches and needed a convincing win over the top pairing in the group — Reika Kakiiwa and Mizuki Fujii of Japan — to have any chance of advancing.
The Taiwanese duo duly obliged by beating the Japanese pairing 21-19, 21-11 yesterday.
Against the Indian duo on Monday, Chien and Cheng took a late lead in the first game, only to squander three game points, a pivotal moment in the match.
“All I can say is that when we reached 22, it’s really too bad that I missed my serve,” a frustrated Cheng said, admitting that they played too passively when they were ahead.
After rebounding to win the second game, the Taiwanese pulled to within 19-18 in the final game and Cheng had a clear shot close to the net to even the score. Instead, she mishit the shuttlecock, sending it into the net.
The match ended a point later.
“The shuttlecock was very close to the net and I was afraid my racket would hit it, so I pulled the racket back too quickly,” Cheng said.
Head coach Liao Kuo-mao said it was a match Chien and Cheng should have won, but did not, leaving him very disappointed.
“We made too many unforced errors,” he said. “If we had taken the first set, we would probably be the ones who are happy now.”
Chien and Cheng were ranked world No. 1 in women’s doubles as recently as April last year, but a run of bad form sent their ranking tumbling to 11th and they were not seen as medal favorites.
In the men’s singles, Hsu Jen-hao was beaten 21-14, 21-10 by Son Wan-ho of South Korea yesterday and eliminated from the competition.
Taiwanese athletes in action
Tuesday, July 31
Archery
Men’s individual
Kuo Cheng-wei defeated Ahmed El-Nemr of Egypt 6-2 in the round-of-16.
Women’s individual
Tan Ya-ting defeated Elena Richter of Germany 6-2 in the round-of-16.
Carina Christiansen of Denmark defeated Le Chien-ying 6-4 in the round-of-16.
Badminton
Men’s singles Group H
Son Wan-ho of South Korea defeated Hsu Jen-hao 21-14, 21-10.
Women’s singles Group K
Tai Tzu-ying defeated Victoria Montero of Mexico 21-6, 21-10.
Women’s singles Group C
Cheng Shao-chieh defeated Neslihan Yigit of Turkey 21-10, 21-6.
Women’s doubles Group B
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa of India defeated Cheng Wen-hsing and Chien Yu-chin 25-23, 16-21, 21-18.
Cheng Wen-hsing and Chien Yu-chin defeated Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa of Japan 21-19, 21-11.
Rowing
Men’s singles sculls
Wang Ming-hui finished 1st in semi-final F and he progresses to final E.
Sailing
Men’s RS-X
Chang Hao finished 36th of 38 in race 1 and 36th of 38 in race 2.
Swimming
Women’s 200m butterfly heats
Cheng Wan-jung finished 28th out of 28 and was eliminated.
Table Tennis
Men’s singles
Chuang Chih-yuan defeated Andrej Gacina of Croatia 4-2 in the fourth round.
Weightlifting
Women’s under-58kg
Kuo Hsing-chun finished eighth after lifting 99kg in the snatch and 129kg in the clean and jerk.
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals. “Your support was incredible,” Mboko told the crowd in French after a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole” chants echoed around the venue. “I’m really happy to win today ... It’s incredible. I’m so happy to beat such a great champion.” Gauff dropped to 2-3 since winning the French Open. She followed the major victory with opening losses in Berlin and Wimbledon, then overcame double-fault problems to win two three-set matches in Montreal. Gauff had five double-faults on Saturday after having 23 in
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen on Thursday said that he is staying with the Red Bull team next year, ending months of speculation over his future. “Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year,” the four-time champion said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “I’m discussing with the team already the plans — the things that we want to change for next year, so that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” he said. Verstappen has a contract with
RSS