Taiwanese badminton heroes Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin yesterday booked a place in the men’s doubles final at the Paris Olympics.
The world No. 12 pair defeated Danish duo Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and Kim Astrup 18-21, 21-17, 21-10 to earn a second consecutive shot at gold after claiming the top prize at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
They face Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in the final tomorrow after the Chinese pair defeated Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik 21-19, 15-21, 21-17 in the other semi-final at La Chapelle Arena.
Photo: AP
On Thursday, Lee and Wang Chi-lin advanced to the semi-finals with a 21-14, 21-17 victory over Thai duo Supak Jomkoh and Kittinupong Kedren.
The 41-minute win extended the Taiwanese pair’s winning streak at the quadrennial international sports event to 10 matches — now 11 — and their head-to-head record against Jomkoh and Kedren to 6-0.
In the men’s singles, Chou Tien-chen was to play India’s Lakshya Sen in the quarter-finals after press time last night.
Photo: AFP
In table tennis, both remaining Taiwanese in the men’s and women’s singles events were eliminated in the quarter-finals.
Lin Yun-ju, who finished fourth in Tokyo three years ago, lost 4-3 to world No. 5 Felix Lebrun of France after a 56-minute marathon. The full score was 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6.
World No. 8 Lin expressed regret over being overtaken after taking a 3-1 lead in the fifth game. Although he leveled the match in the sixth game, he conceded seven consecutive points to the 17-year-old at the beginning of the final game, paving the way for the loss.
Photo: AFP
Veteran Cheng I-ching was defeated 4-0 (11-7, 11-4, 19-17, 11-5) by China’s world No. 1 Sun Yingsha in 48 minutes.
Reiterating that she wanted “to win so badly,” Cheng thanked everyone for their support on Facebook, writing: “I want to win and show you Cheng I-ching is back after I found myself.”
She vowed to learn from the disappointment and said she would “never let [herself] defeat [herself] again.”
Photo: Reuters
The men’s team face Egypt in the round-of-16 on Monday, while the women’s team are to take on Australia on Tuesday.
In tennis, Hsieh Su-wei and Tsai Chia-yi were eliminated from the women’s doubles in the quarter-finals by Czech duo Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova.
The 1-6, 6-4, 14-12 loss matched the 38-year-old Hsieh’s Olympic record in London, when she paired up with Chuang Chia-jung, but she was not satisfied with that.
Photo: Reuters
“My goal is to win a medal, not to break my record,” said Hsieh, who has won seven Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles.
Losing in the quarter-finals or semi-finals were the same to her because “the only thing I haven’t won is an Olympic gold,” she added.
“I might not be playing in the next edition, so I hope Tsai will win this medal next time,” she said.
In archery, three Taiwanese competed in the women’s individual event on Thursday, with veteran Lei Chien-ying advancing to the round-of-16, while Olympic newcomers Li Tsai-chi and Chiu Yi-ching were eliminated.
Lei, 34, outshot Ana Rendon Martinez of Colombia in three of four sets to secure a 7-1 victory, before upsetting world No. 1 Casey Kaufhold of the US in five sets for a 7-3 win, scoring a perfect 30 out of 30 in the final set.
In her fourth Olympic Games, Lei scored 652 points in the ranking round on July 25, placing 29th out of 64 competitors. Li was 40th and Chiu was 53rd.
Taiwan were eliminated in the mixed team event yesterday, with Lei and Tai Yu-hsuan losing in the first round to South Korea.
Zhang Bo-ya ran 11.99 seconds in the women’s 100m preliminaries, finishing third in heat 2 and qualifying for the next round.
She improved to a personal season-best time of 11.88 seconds, in her second race yesterday, but was well outside qualifying for the semi-finals.
In the pool, Han An-chi was disqualified in heat 2 of the women’s 200m individual medley.
SSC Napoli will have to wait one more week to seal the Serie A title after on Sunday being held to a goalless draw at Parma, while closest rivals Inter drew 2-2 in a dramatic game with SS Lazio. Antonio Conte’s team stayed one point ahead of Inter and were unfortunate not to win after twice striking the woodwork through Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Matteo Politano, while Scott McTominay also had a free-kick tipped onto the crossbar. The away side thought they would be handed a chance to take the points from the penalty spot in the 96th minute when David Neres
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
Omar Marmoush’s stunning long-range strike on Tuesday upstaged Kevin de Bruyne on the Manchester City great’s Etihad farewell. Marmoush let fly from about 30m to put City ahead in their 3-1 win against AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League. The victory moved Pep Guardiola’s team up to third in the standings and left qualification for the UEFA Champions League in their own hands heading into the last round of the season. “It’s really important. To be in the Champions League after what happened [this season] will be really nice,” the City manager said. De Bruyne was making his final home appearance for City before
RSS