Taiwanese badminton players Lin Xiao-min and Wang Yu-qiao on Friday defeated their Chinese counterparts to advance to the women’s doubles semi-finals at the German Open in Mulheim.
Teaming up for the first time this year, it took the 28-year-old Lin and 24-year-old Wang 41 minutes to beat Keng Shuliang and Li Huazhou 21-16, 21-19 in a quarter-final played at the Westenergie Sporthalle.
The world No. 68 Taiwanese shuttlers have not lost a game since the tournament opened earlier this week.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Liberty Times
Despite trailing early in the opening game on Friday, Lin and Wang quickly caught up to clinch several points to seize the lead.
Down 9-7 in the second game, they rebounded with eight consecutive points to lead 15-9 before closing out the match 21-19, staving off a fierce rally by their opponents.
Lin and Wang were yesterday after press time to face the world No. 63 pairing of Japan’s Mizuki Otake and Miyu Takahashi.
Lin and Wang are the only Taiwanese to make it to the semi-finals in Germany, after Taiwanese twins and fourth seeds Lee Fang-jen and Lee Fang-chih were defeated by another brother duo, France’s Christo Popov and Toma Junior Popov, 21-17, 21-9 in the men’s doubles quarter-finals.
Taiwan’s Chen Cheng-kuan and Lin Bing-wei were also ousted 21-11, 21-14 by top seeds Ben Lane and Sean Vendy of England in the men’s doubles quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, women’s singles third seed Sung Shuo-yun of Taiwan on Thursday crashed out in the round-of-16 after a devastating 21-17, 21-17 loss to Japan’s Riko Gunji.
World No. 20 Sung in January made it to the semi-finals of the Indonesia Masters, tying her best result at the Super 500 event.
The pressure was already on Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso before their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League raised further questions about his future. Arsenal remain perfect in this season’s competition and three points clear at the top of the standings after a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while defending champions Paris Saint-Germain were held 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao. The clash between Madrid and City was the standout game of the round amid reports this week that Alonso had lost control of the locker room. Speculation over his position is likely to intensify after the latest
‘HIGH STANDARD’: The Thunder are on track for a Finals-Cup double after they scored 22 three-pointers in equaling the best 25-game start to a season in NBA history The Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday bagged a 16th straight victory, thrashing the Phoenix Suns 138-89 to romp into an NBA Cup semi-final clash with the San Antonio Spurs, who stunned the Los Angeles Lakers 132-119. NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points to lead the reigning NBA champions Thunder, who improved to 24-1 to equal the best 25-game start to a season in league history. They dominated from start to finish to book their place in the final four of the in-season tournament in Las Vegas, where they are tomorrow to take on the Spurs. The New York Knicks and
The Olympic flame for the Milan Cortina Winter Games landed in Rome on Thursday following a handover in Greece. The flame was carried in a small lantern aboard an ITA Airways flight between the Greek and Italian capitals. Tennis player Jasmine Paolini — an Olympic gold medalist — and local organizing committee president Giovanni Malago carried the flame off the plane. “I feel honored. It’s an incredible emotion,” Paolini said in brief remarks before the lantern was driven away toward the presidential palace. A 63-day torch relay covering 12,000km is to start in Rome today and wind its way through all 110 Italian provinces
The Kashima Antlers won a record-extending ninth Japanese title on the final day of the J. League season yesterday, holding their nerve to beat the Yokohama F. Marinos 2-1. Watched by Brazilian legend and former player Zico, the Antlers went into the game at their packed home stadium with a one-point lead over Kashiwa Reysol in the table. A goal in either half from Brazilian striker Leo Ceara put the Antlers in control, but Yokohama struck in the first of five minutes of second-half injury time to set up a nail-biting finale, with Reysol winning their game 1-0. The Antlers saw out the
RSS