Badminton world No. 2 Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) of Taiwan yesterday won the Yonex Taipei Open for a fourth time, beating World No. 35 Saena Kawakami of Japan 21-17, 21-16 at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium.
World No. 4 Chou Tien-chen (周天成) also did Taiwan proud in the men’s singles, beating World No. 38 Kodai Naraoka of Japan 14-21, 21-10, 21-6 in 1 hour, 1 minute.
Tai’s final lasted 37 minutes — her longest match during the tournament.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Despite Tai taking an early lead in both games, Kawakami managed to even the score twice during the first game and was just one point behind Tai during the second.
After the match, Tai said that Japanese players always play steadily and move fast, and she had to remind herself to keep unforced errors to a minimum.
Tai became the third female player to win four women’s singles titles at the Taipei Open, after winning it in 2012, 2016 and 2018. The others are Kirsten Larsen of Denmark and Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea.
Photo: CNA
“It’s been 10 years. It means I’ve been playing for quite a while, but I will still try” to win more titles, Tai said.
It was also her third title this season, following back-to-back wins at the Thailand Open in May and the Indonesia Open last month.
Tai, who won silver at the Tokyo Olympics, said she next plans to play at the Japan Open from Aug. 30 to Sept. 4.
Photo: CNA
Asked if she would try to defend her title at the Taipei Open next year, Tai said: “Let me finish the tournaments this year, and we will see next year.”
In the men’s doubles, Taiwanese Olympic gold medalists Lee Yang (李洋) and Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) lost 18-21, 21-11, 18-21 to Man Wei-chong (萬緯聰) and Tee Kai-wun (鄭凱文) of Malaysia.
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday criticized the nuclear energy referendum scheduled for Saturday next week, saying that holding the plebiscite before the government can conduct safety evaluations is a denial of the public’s right to make informed decisions. Lai, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made the comments at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting at its headquarters in Taipei. ‘NO’ “I will go to the ballot box on Saturday next week to cast a ‘no’ vote, as we all should do,” he said as he called on the public to reject the proposition to reactivate the decommissioned
US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don’t believe there’s any way it’s going to happen as long as I’m here. We’ll see,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News’ Special Report. “He told me: ‘I will never do
EXCEPTIONS: Some people could be allowed to reclaim citizenship for humanitarian reasons or because of their contributions to the nation, the interior ministry said Taiwan would soon unveil new rules banning Taiwanese residents of China from reclaiming their citizenship if they participated in Beijing’s propaganda activities, the Ministry of the Interior said on Monday. The measures were drafted following President William Lai’s (賴清德) March 13 directive that the government counter China’s espionage and influence campaigns aimed at undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty, the ministry said in a preview of the rules. The changes would affect Taiwanese who lost their citizenship after becoming permanent residents of China or obtaining passports issued by China, it said. Under the measures, former Taiwanese nationals living in China who had made statements denying the