Tai Tzu-ying yesterday thanked her fans and her doctor after exiting at the Paris Olympics a day earlier, beaten 21-19, 21-15 by Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon and failing to reach the round-of-16 of the women’s singles badminton.
Tokyo silver medalist Tai, who played with both knees in braces in Paris, had previously opened up about an issue with her left knee and earlier this year withdrew from the Singapore Open.
“Before I came here I knew I would find it hard to play the game because of my injury,” Tai, 30, who plans to retire at the end of this year, said through tears. “I still tried my best.”
Photo: Reuters
The match lasted 46 minutes.
Intanon previously beat Belgium’s Lianne Tan in the three-person group and advanced as the first-place shuttler. Tai, with one win and one loss, was eliminated along with Tan.
Having received a bye, Intanon advanced directly to the quarter-finals.
Photo: Reuters
Tai and 29-year-old Intanon are long-time friends and rivals. Intanon has often challenged Tai, including in Tokyo in 2021, when she nearly ousted Tai in the quarter-finals.
Tai on Facebook yesterday thanked her fans.
“The result was not what I wanted and I did not want everyone to know that I was injured, but this was what I expected,” she wrote in Mandarin.
Photo: AFP
“I haven’t felt good this month. Along with the pain in my left leg, I also hurt my right leg, to the extent that I had to use crutches for a few days,” she added.
“There is no excuse to lose,” she said. “I could not walk until I got on the court. I do not know how many times I cried, even the day before the game. I did not know whether I could get on court the next day, but I did.”
“Thank you to those who cried with me tonight,” she added. “Thank you for the faith.”
Photo: Reuters
She also thanked her doctor and other support staff.
Tai is a former world No. 1 and was participating at her fourth Olympic Games.
In table tennis, Taiwan had two players remaining in the men’s and women’s singles after Kao Cheng-jui lost in the round-of-16 on Wednesday.
Photo: Reuters
The 19-year-old Olympic newcomer lost to Truls Moregard of Sweden 4-1 in the men’s singles round-of-16, although he pushed Moregard all the way in a 14-16, 13-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-6 loss.
“Silent Assassin” Lin Yun-ju in the men’s singles and veteran Cheng I-ching in the women’s singles both advanced to the quarter-finals with 4-0 sweeps against Darko Jorgic of Slovenia and Natalia Bajor of Poland respectively.
Lin, who finished fourth in the previous Olympics, was to play France’s Felix Lebrun after press time last night, while Cheng, who has tied her best Olympic record, was to play China’s world No. 1 Sun Yingsha.
In shooting, Liu Wan-yu and Lin Yi-chun failed to qualify for the women’s trap final, finishing 25th and 26th among the 30 competitors with total scores of 112 and 110 respectively.
Only the top six shooters advanced to the final, where Guatemala’s Adriana Ruano Olivia won gold.
Although she is 43, Lin, a five-time Olympian, said she would continue to pursue her goal of winning an Olympic medal.
“I will not give up on my goal of winning an Olympic medal. Now that I’ve failed, I will just practice for another four years. I’m not going to give up my favorite sport before achieving my goal,” she said.
As of Wednesday, five of the team’s eight shooters had exited.
The remaining three were Lee Meng-yuan in the men’s skeet, and Tien Chia-chen and Wu Chia-ying in the women’s 25m pistol.
Their events are scheduled for today.
Taiwanese yesterday were also involved in events in tennis, archery and golf.
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Arsenal stormed six points clear at the top of the English Premier League as Bukayo Saka and Viktor Gyokeres put Fulham to the sword in a 3-0 win, while West Ham United’s defeat at Brentford offered Tottenham Hotspur a lifeline in the battle for survival. The Gunners have stumbled toward the finish line in their quest for a first league title in 22 years, blowing a sizeable lead over Manchester City in a series of nervous displays. However, the return of Saka, making his first start in six weeks, freed up Mikel Arteta’s men in a dominant performance that shrugged
Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday said that she hoped she would be able to play tennis under the Belarusian flag after the International Olympic Committee lifted its ban on the country’s athletes competing in the Olympics. World No. 1 Sabalenka has had to compete under a neutral banner as a consequence of her country’s support for Russia following its ally’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The IOC earlier on Thursday lifted its ban on Belarusian athletes competing in the Olympics, although restrictions on Russian athletes remain in place. Asked whether the women’s tour would drop the ban on her representing her country, Sabalenka said:
RSS