Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) yesterday won her third championship in Dubai, taking just 34 minutes to defeat South Korea’s An Se-young 21-10, 21-14.
Meanwhile, her compatriot Lee Chih-kai (李智凱) also won gold at a gymnastics competition in Cairo.
World No. 4 Tai has lost four of her past five matches against world No. 2 An, but Tai gained an early lead in their Badminton Asia Championships women’s singles match, widening the gap to 17-7 before the end of the first game.
.jpg)
Photo courtesy of Badmintonphoto
In the second game, Tai started with an 8-0 lead, before An called for an injury-related time-out.
An appeared to be playing with an injured knee.
Tai later lost her concentration, but recovered to maintain an 18-11 lead, before blocking her opponent’s frontcourt smash, and scoring three more points to win.
Photo: CNA
On Saturday, Tai broke a stretch of five straight losses to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, beating the world No.1 for the first time in four years to make the final.
Tai’s last win against Yamaguchi was at the Singapore Open in April 2019.
Tai started well, and although the Japanese made a comeback in the second game, Tai held the lead all through the third to win 21-12, 16-21, 21-15 in 53 minutes.
In the men’s doubles, Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and Lee Yang (李洋) withdrew from their semi-final match against Indian duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
Wang and Lee lost the first game 18-21 and held a 14-13 lead in the second, but were forced to withdraw due to a potential groin strain in Wang’s right thigh.
The Taiwanese pair finished third automatically.
In Cairo, Lee on Saturday won gold in the men’s artistic gymnastics pommel horse during the fourth leg of the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series.
Lee won 8.533 points for execution for an overall score of 15.033 under the points system introduced by the International Gymnastics Federation. The body updated its rules after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where Lee won a silver medal in the pommel horse.
Lee’s performance had a difficulty of 6.5 degrees, the highest among the eight competitors.
The win was Lee’s first medal and Taiwan’s second in this year’s World Cup series. The event’s previous legs were held in Cottbus, Germany (Feb. 23 to 26), Doha (March 1 to 4) and Baku (March 9 to 12).
Taiwanese Olympian Shiao Yu-jan (蕭佑然) won bronze in the pommel horse event in Doha on March 3.
Lee yesterday said he could not win a medal in the first three legs, because he was trying to adjust his routine.
“I have probably changed my routine four, five times since January,” Lee said. “The movements are all similar; it was only a matter of organizing the sets to see what kind of routine suits me best.”
Lee added that his mindset has changed a lot since March, and he has gradually found his rhythm.
“I haven’t delivered an international achievement since the Tokyo Olympics,” Lee said. “I now feel more assured.”
The next leg of the series is to be held in Varna, Bulgaria, from May 25 to 28. The series is to conclude in Paris on Sept. 17.
Additional reporting by AFP
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
RSS