Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday claimed her first victory at the season-ending Badminton World Tour (BWF) Finals, while Chou Tien-chen lost his second match in the men’s singles at the Nimibutr Arena in Bangkok.
Tai on Wednesday lost in her first outing at the Badminton World Federation event against China’s He Bingjiao and was forced to work hard against home hope Busanan Ongbamrungphan yesterday, winning 22-20, 21-16 in 43 minutes.
Game 1 was in the balance at 17-17 when Ongbamrungphan seemed to run out of patience in a long rally, putting a shot out of bounds from a stable position and in the next point missing a low return to make it 19-17 to Tai.
Photo: AP
The Taiwanese star gave herself two game points at 20-18, but frustration set in as she put a shot into the net and then missed a smash to tie it at 20-20.
However, her brilliance shone as she manipulated her opponent’s position and timed her shots to claim the next two points and win the first game.
In game 2, Tai battled to a 13-12 lead and then pulled away to give herself five match points at 20-15, claiming victory on the second as Ongbamrungphan hit long.
Photo: AP
In other games in the women’s singles, top-ranked Akane Yamaguchi was defeated 21-19, 21-18 by Chen Yufei of China.
It was a vital win for fourth-ranked Chen, who lost to Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung on Wednesday.
Chen claimed the first game, but only after Yamaguchi saved three game points.
Yamaguchi showed some flashes of brilliance in the second and looked like she was on the verge of securing a tiebreaker, but squandered a four-point advantage at the interval.
Chen fought back to even the scores and ultimately claim the second game and victory in 49 minutes.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s An Se-young kept her hopes alive by beating Tunjung 21-9, 11-21, 21-10 — also a crucial win after a loss a day earlier to Yamaguchi.
In the men’s singles, Anthony Ginting of Indonesia bolstered his chances of a semi-final berth, beating Chou 21-14, 12-21, 21-19 in 56 minutes, his second win after defeating compatriot Jonatan Christie.
Chou fell to his second defeat in Group B after a loss against Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.
Chou and Ginting looked evenly matched early in the first game with the score 3-3, but Ginting pulled away to 9-5 due to mistakes from the Taiwanese player.
Chou fought back to level the score at 10-10 and even took a 13-12 lead, but the Indonesian powered away with eight consecutive points to take the first game.
In the second game, Chou played more aggressively, not hesitating with the smash. He took an 11-5 lead at the break and Ginting had trouble keeping up as Chou forced a third game.
In the decider, Ginting claimed an early 7-3 advantage before Chou had a run of six consecutive points to go ahead 11-10 at the interval.
However, mistakes marred Chou’s upset bid as he lost the lead and never regained it.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS