Taiwanese world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) claimed another major badminton title when she routed South Korea’s Sung Ji-yun in straight sets, 21-14 and 21-13, at yesterday’s Dubai World Superseries final in the United Arab Emirates.
It was Tai’s second consecutive singles trophy after she won the Hong Kong Open Superseries last month.
Taiwanese fans and government officials hailed Tai as a national hero and an exemplary athlete for her determination and spirited play, while celebrating her finishing the year the world’s top female badminton player.
Kaohsiung-born Tai has tasted a string of successes over the past year.
Tai, 22, won the title in Indonesia and reached the final in Denmark, and was on peak form to secure yet another title in Dubai.
It was Tai’s second victory over world No. 5 Sung in a Dubai final after they faced each other in 2014 in a match that Tai won 21-17, 21-12 to claim one of her first major trophies.
Badminton officials said Tai is a “prodigious talent” who was deservedly seeded No. 1 for the tournament, while Sung said: “Tai is good at attacking and deceptive play.”
Fans said they were highly impressed with Tai’s swift pace, lightning-quick reactions and the disguise on her shots to confound her opponents.
In their earlier group match in Dubai, Tai lost to Sung 21-15, 21-19 after defeating her first two opponents.
Tai began the tournament in strong form, defeating China’s He Bingjiao (何冰嬌) 21-16, 21-13 in her opener and then cruising past Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 21-12, 21-14.
Sung topped Group A with Tai in second place, as they both advanced to Saturday’s semi-finals.
They had gone head-to-head 16 times previously, with an even record of eight wins each.
In the other finals yesterday, world No. 4 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark won the men’s singles title by defeating Tian Houwei (田厚威) of China 21-14, 6-21, 21-17 for his 10th major tournament title.
Tai said in the post-match interview after her victory: “I really enjoy playing in Dubai, the whole place and the set-up is excellent.”
“It’s great to win two tournament titles here... I did not think too much about retaining the world No. 1 ranking. I just tried to enjoy playing the game, and take in the support of the fans,” she said.
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
UPGRADED MISSILE: The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology is reportedly to conduct a live-fire test of the Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile on Thursday next week The US Army is planning to build new facilities to boost explosives production and strengthen its supply chain, a move aimed at addressing munitions shortages and supporting obligations to partners including Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel, Defense News reported. The army has issued a sources sought notice for a proposed Center of Excellence at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, the report said. The facility would serve as a hub within the US industrial base for the production of key military explosives, including research department explosives (RDX) and high melting explosives (HMX), while also supporting research and development of next-generation materials. The proposed
RSS