Taiwan’s top female badminton player, Tai Tzu-ying, is ready to put an up-and-down year behind her and focus her attention on this year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Though Tai rose to No. 3 in the Badminton World Federation’s women’s singles rankings in August last year, the highest-ranking of any Taiwanese woman, she said it could have been better, pointing to the wide gap in ranking points between her and those ranked above her.
She was also hampered by an injury to a heel suffered at the Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open in November last year that led to poor results there and at the Dubai World Superseries Finals in December, tournaments she had won in 2014. The loss of ranking points at those two events sent her ranking tumbling to ninth in the world.
Photo: AFP
Tai said her injury limited her in Dubai and she subsequently decided to turn down invitations to other events on the advice of her father and concentrate on getting healthy.
She is now being treated by doctors at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taoyuan and is recovering well, but there is pressure on her to perform well ahead of the Olympic Games.
The top 34 players in the world automatically qualify for the Olympic singles competition (with no more than two from any one country), so Tai is virtually assured of competing in Rio de Janeiro.
The challenge will not be qualifying for a spot, but rather securing the highest possible ranking by the May 5, the cutoff date to get a high seed and a favorable draw.
In 2012 as the 10th seed at the London Olympics she had to face third seed and eventual gold medalist Li Xuerui in the round-of-16, exiting the tournament earlier than she had hoped.
Aside from moving back up the rankings, Tai also plans to get a better read on her potential opponents in the coming months.
“With still half a year before the Olympics, I want to learn from every event I play and come up with strategies by observing my opponents,” she said. “My basic goal is to improve on my top-16 finish at the London Olympics.”
She will face some early tests when she competes at the Yonex All England Open next month, then the Que Singapore Open and Badminton Asia Championships in April, tournaments in which she finished in the top four last year.
For now, she is hoping to get healthy so that she can build on last year and be more competitive at the top echelon of women’s badminton on the biggest stages.
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
James Harden on Friday scored 31 points and came up big in overtime to help the Los Angeles Clippers erase a double-digit deficit on the way to a 121-117 NBA victory over the Toronto Raptors. Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Clippers pushed their wining steak to five games despite the absence of star Kawhi Leonard with a sprained right ankle. The Clippers trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but Harden drilled a pair of free-throws with 1:24 left in regulation to tie it and after misses from both teams, they went to
Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah on Saturday secured his sixth Dakar Rally car title in Saudi Arabia with Luciano Benavides scraping home by two seconds to claim the motorbike title. “We’ve worked very hard since last year. I might not be showing much emotion yet, but it’s there, deep down. We are so happy to win,” al-Attiyah said at the finish. Al-Attiyah, at the wheel of a Dacia, only had to avoid a final day slip-up to top the podium after bringing his career tally of stage wins to 50 on Friday. The 55-year-old, who took clay pigeon shooting bronze at the
Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
RSS