Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China.
World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title.
Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory in the Uber Cup with a win of their own, as Go Pei Kee and Teoh Mei Xing defeated the world No. 24 Taiwanese duo of Hsu Ya-ching and Lin Wan-ching 21-19, 21-17 in 44 minutes.
Photo courtesy of Badminton Photo
That was to be Malaysia’s only win of the day, as 26-year-old world No. 27 Wen Chi-hsu came back from an early loss to beat Karupathevan Letshanaa 13-21, 21-17, 21-16 in 57 minutes.
Taiwan’s Hu Ling-fang and Teng Chun-hsun kept up the heat, dominating Ho Lo Ee and Tan Zhing Yi 21-17, 21-11 in 32 minutes, while Taiwan’s world No. 31 Sung Shuo-yun wrapped up the day with a 21-17, 22-20 win over Wong Ling Ching.
Taiwan are tied in Group B with Thailand, who dominated Australia 5-0.
Last year’s runners-up China lead Group A, having beaten Singapore 5-0 on Friday and Canada 5-0 yesterday, while India yesterday added to Singapore’s woes, defeating them 4-1, after beating Canada 4-1 a day earlier.
In Group C, Japan and Indonesia on Friday each won their first rounds 5-0 against Uganda and Hong Kong respectively.
Reigning champions South Korea on Friday opened up their Uber Cup campaign in Group D with a 5-0 victory over Mexico, while Denmark dominated the US 5-0. South Korea were last night to play the US, while Denmark were to face Mexico.
In the Thomas Cup, Taiwanese world No. 14 Chou gave the men an early lead over Germany, beating Schaefer 21-13, 16-21, 21-12 in 57 minutes.
Tokyo Olympic men’s doubles champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin followed with a decisive 21-13, 21-19 victory over Bjarne Geiss and Jan Colin Voelker, while world No. 17 Lin Chun-yi came back from a first-game loss to rock Fabian Roth 19-20, 22-20, 21-18.
Daniel Hess and Marvin Seidel gave Germany their first win, beating Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan 21-19, 22-24 in 40 minutes, while world No. 23 Wang Tzu-wei defeated Matthias Kicklitz 16-21, 21-13, 21-17.
The BWF Web site on Thursday declared Taiwan the team to watch in the Thomas Cup, saying that they had a well-rounded lineup led by Chou and backed up by Wang Tzu-wei and Lin Chun-yi in singles, with choice players in doubles.
Chou told the site that Taiwan’s lineup gives them a chance to make it to the semi-finals this year.
“We’ve never been in the semifinals, so we really want to win,” the site quoted him as saying. “For me, I feel more relaxed because my teammates can back me. I think I can play much better than at other tournaments. I’m really happy to play here.”
Taiwan are tied in Group B with Japan, who yesterday dominated the Czech Republic 5-0.
South Korea lead Group A with two points, having blanked Canada and Australia 5-0 on Friday and yesterday respectively. China on Friday beat Australia 5-0, and were last night to play Canada.
In Group C, last year’s winners India and runners-up Indonesia are tied 1-1, after on Friday beating Thailand 4-1 and England 5-0 respectively.
In Group D, Denmark and Malaysia have each racked up a point, after blanking Algeria and Hong Kong 5-0 respectively on the first day of the tournament. Last night, Denmark blanked Hong Kong 5-0, while Malaysia were leading Algeria 4-0.
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried