Lin Dan cut short his first badminton tournament since he won his second Olympic gold medal when he conceded a walkover in the Badminton Asia Championships men’s singles quarter-finals in Taipei yesterday.
“Super Dan,” an icon in China and rated by many as badminton’s greatest player, had to withdraw after waking up with a pain in his left shoulder which left him unable to lift his left arm, a tournament spokesman said
Lin, the unseeded former two-time Asia champ, won three matches to reach the quarters, but withdrew and allowed sixth-seeded Chinese compatriot Wang Zhengming to advance.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“Lin hasn’t played for a long time, he played two games yesterday which both lasted three rounds and pulled his muscle. Our doctors decided that he should withdraw over the injury,” the spokesman said.
After his second successive Olympic title in London in August last year, Lin got married, released his autobiography, appeared at Peter Gade’s retirement tournament in Denmark, and said he was considering playing to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. His ranking has fallen from No. 1 to 39.
Meanwhile, top seed Chen Long of China saw off Thai Boonsak Ponsana 21-14, 20-22, 21-12 in the their quarter-final. Another top Chinese player, Du Pengyu, beat Hong Kong’s Chan Yan Kit while Malaysia’s Wei Feng Chong beat China’s Gao Huan.
In the women’s singles, No. 5 seed Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan gave second seed Wang Yihan of China a fright by winning a close first set in their quarter-final clash. However, Wang bounced back to take an equally tight second set before dominating the decider to claim a 19-21, 21-18, 21-10 victory.
China’s Olympic champion Li Xuerui scored an easy victory over Malaysian Sonia Cheah 21-13, 21-7, while Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi and Eriko Hirose beat Thai Ratchanok Inthanon and India’s P.V. Sindhu, respectively.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite