Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament.
Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year.
Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang (李洋).
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Wang and Chiu won all five of their matches at the tournament in straight games.
The last time Wang claimed a Taipei Open men’s doubles title was in 2018 when he paired up with his older teammate Chen Hung-lin (陳宏麟).
“Now it is my turn to set up the plays and lead the younger player,” Wang said. “This role change makes me feel pretty good.”
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Wang said that the best performance for him and his new partner this year had been reaching the round of 16.
“Winning the championship at home this time really boosted our confidence. Actually, we started to improve two weeks ago at the BWF [Badminton World Federation] Sudirman Cup. We just didn’t expect to go all the way and win the title,” he said.
For his part, Chiu said that pairing with Wang was not stressful, but motivating.
“The pressure does not come from Wang’s past achievements, but rather from the desire to continuously improve myself in order to keep up,” Chiu added.
Wang and Chiu’s win came after Taiwanese women’s doubles pair Hsieh Pei-shan (謝沛珊) and Hung En-tzu (洪恩慈) earlier in the day clinched the title with a 21-14, 21-15 win over Mizuki Otake and Miyu Takahashi of Japan, also in 43 minutes.
The victory made Hsieh and Hung, the top seeds at the tournament, the first Taiwanese women’s team to win the event in 17 years.
Later yesterday, Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen (周天成) lost to Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew (駱建佑) 14-21, 21-15, 20-22 in the men’s singles final.
Chou, 35, has won the Taipei Open title four times, with the most recent victory in 2022.
The total prize money at the Super 300 tournament on the BWF World Tour is US$240,000.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
RSS