Taiwan’s top-ranked Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) yesterday won a dramatic cliffhanger women’s badminton World Tour Final in Bangkok, blocking reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin’s bid for a hat-trick of titles in three weeks, while seventh-ranked Lee Yang (李洋) and Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) won their third title in three weeks.
Spain’s Marin beat Tai, 26, two weeks in a row during the previous Thailand Open tournament finals.
The Spaniard had a shaky start yesterday as Tai exploited holes in her defense early, but Marin mounted a successful comeback in the later stages, winning the opener 21-14.
Photo: AFP/Badminton Association of Thailand
Marin was loud and feisty in her verbal celebrations, but a visibly annoyed Tai soon found her own voice. The pair also played mind games over shuttlecock changes.
In the second game, Tai dominated early and dictated a commanding pace, eventually triumphing 21-8.
The decider was filled with fast and furious rallies — both players yo-yoed up and down the scoreboard — but two late spectacular drop shots were critical in sealing Tai’s victory 21-19.
“Before this match today I kept telling myself that I had to play patiently. In the previous matches, all my mistakes were caused [by] my own impatience,” Tai said.
The victory lifted Tai to No. 3 on the list of players with the most World Tour Finals women’s singles titles, according to the Badminton World Federation.
Only Indonesia’s Susi Susanti and China’s Li Lingwei (李玲蔚) hold more titles — six and four respectively, according to the federation.
Lee and Wang yesterday beat Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-17, 23-21 in 37 minutes.
Lee said the pair “were nervous coming in the finals here.”
“We were playing our idols. I thought: ‘Oh my god, oh my god.’ Three titles is incredible,” he said.
Thailand has hosted three consecutive badminton tournaments in a bio-secure COVID-19 bubble, without spectators, to guard against the pandemic.
The all-Danish men’s singles final was equally nail-biting as Anders Antonsen denied Viktor Axelsen a third tournament win in three weeks.
Axelsen, ranked fourth, could not control his nerves — losing the first game 16-21 — his body language showing immense frustration as errors piled up and shots landed wide.
He managed to regroup to win the second game 21-5.
However, in the decider, Antonsen had all the right answers, triumphing 21-17 to claim the game and the hour-long match against an increasingly ruffled Axelsen.
Antonsen is the only man to beat Axelsen in three weeks.
The women’s doubles was an all-South Korean showdown with fourth-ranked Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan pushing sixth-ranked Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong to three games over 92 minutes.
Lee and Shin lost the first game 15-21 before scrapping through to claim the second 26-24.
They had momentum early in the third game and held off a late resurgence from their opponents to win the decider 21-19.
Thailand’s third seeds Sapsiree Taerattanachai and Dechapol Puavaranukroh are also going for a trio of titles.
They are up against sixth-ranked South Koreans Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung.
Additional reporting by CNA
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