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.
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