Olympic men’s doubles gold medalists and third seeds Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin were yesterday among several Taiwanese players who exited the Indonesia Open after the pair suffered a straight-sets defeat to Malaysia’s world No. 19 pairing of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin.
Goh and Izzuddin downed Lee and Wang 15-21, 21-23 in just 37 minutes in their second-round men’s doubles match. It is the first time the teams have ever played each other in a competitive match.
In the opening game, Goh and Izzuddin secured a comfortable 11-6 lead at the mid-game interval before powering ahead to win the game 21-15.
Photo: AFP / Badminton Association of Indonesia
The two pairs then tied 15 times in the second game to reach 21-21, but the team from Malaysia shot ahead by winning two points and the match.
The world No. 3 duo of Lee and Wang have won two Thailand Open titles, the BWF World Tour Finals in January and an Olympic gold in July.
Fourth-seeded Chou Tien-chen was knocked out of contention in the second round of the men’s singles competition by unseeded Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in three games, 21-18, 15-21, 11-21 in 1 hour, 16 minutes.
Despite the stunning win by Nishimoto, Chou still holds an 8-2 head-to-head advantage over the Japanese player.
Chou, who is world No. 4 and the 2019 Indonesia Open men’s singles title holder, has yet to win a championship this year.
World No. 11 Wang Tzu-wei also crashed out of the tournament at the same stage after falling to third-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark 21-18, 13-21, 14-21 in 1 hour, 22 minutes.
Wang and Antonsen have now split their head-to-head record 3-3.
In the women’s singles, Pai Yu-po was knocked out by Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, who downed the world No. 32 Pai 21-11, 21-16 in 36 minutes.
Yang Po-han and Lu Ching-yao were to play Japan’s Akira Koga and Taichi Saito in the men’s doubles after press time last night.
The Indonesia Open, which started on Tuesday in Bali and ends on Sunday, has a total purse of US$850,000, and is the second stop in the three-tournament “Indonesia Badminton Festival 2021.”
While British star Jack Draper spent the past week trying to find rhythm and comfort in his first grass tournament of the season at the Queen’s Club Championships in London, Jiri Lehecka on Saturday bulldozed everything in his path. After more than two furious hours of battle, their form was reflected in the final scoreline as Lehecka toppled a frustrated Draper, the second seed, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to reach the biggest final of his career, against Carlos Alcaraz. Lehecka is also the first Czech to reach the men’s title match at Queen’s since Ivan Lendl lifted the trophy in 1990. Draper, who
REUNION: Former Barcelona players Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Miami coach Javier Mascherano are to face their former coach Luis Enrique Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi faces a tantalizing reunion with former club Paris Saint-Germain in the FIFA Club World Cup last 16 after both sides on Monday progressed to the knockout phase. Miami drew 2-2 with Palmeiras to go through second in Group A, after the Brazilian side fought back from two goals down to seal top spot. They now face an all-Brazil clash against Botafogo, who lost 1-0 to Atletico Madrid, but progressed from Group B in second at the expense of the Spaniards. Champions of Europe PSG won the group with a 2-0 victory over Seattle Sounders, paving the
Dale Earnhardt Jr might already be NASCAR’s most popular crew chief. He is certainly an undefeated one. Pressed into unexpected service, Earnhardt on Saturday called the shots for 18-year-old prospect Connor Zilisch in the No. 88 Chevrolet, as they landed in victory lane in the second-tier Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway. “It felt good to have some input and decisionmaking power,” Earnhardt said. “And then helping Connor understand what our plan was so he knew when to push and what he was expected to do.” Earnhardt — who won NASCAR’s most-popular driver award 15 times — made a pit stop from his
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
RSS