World No. 7 Chou Tien-chen yesterday fought back to victory over Brian Yang as Taiwan downed Canada 4-1 to open their Sudirman Cup Finals campaign in Xiamen, China.
Taiwan, who are aiming for their first Sudirman Cup title, and four-time champions South Korea grabbed unsurprising opening wins in their Group B ties of the tournament played once every two years.
Nevertheless, Canada put Taiwan, lacking the strength of former world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying, to the test.
Photo: AFP
In the opening match, Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Hu Ling-fang, mixed doubles’ world Nos. 24 and 8 respectively, blew past Canada’s Kevin Lee and Josephine Wu 22-20, 21-14 in a speedy 31 minutes, despite a close opening game, on Xiamen Fenghuang Gymnasium’s court 1.
Former world No. 2 Chou struggled in the men’s singles against Yang, whom he dominated 21-12, 21-9 in the opening round of the India Open in January.
Yang did not make it quite that easy this time, forcing Chou to work for his 21-18 opening-game victory, before staging a 21-13 comeback in the second.
However, Chou’s experience — he is 12 years older than his 23-year-old Toronto-born opponent — paid off, as the Taiwanese edged Yang 21-18 in the final game to secure his eighth win over the Canadian.
In the next match, Michelle Li took advantage of Taiwan’s weak spot, women’s singles, to blow past world No. 24 Chiu Pin-chian 21-10, 21-16 in just 37 minutes, giving Canada its only win in the tie.
Although Taiwan boasts strength in men’s singles and doubles, with robust mixed doubles depth, without shuttler star Tai in women’s singles, they are relying on Chiu and world No. 23 Hsu Wen-chi.
Tai, who underwent knee surgery in December last year, announced in April 2023 that she would retire after last year’s season.
In the men’s doubles, two-time Olympic gold-medalist Wang Chi-lin and partner Chiu Hsiang-chieh breezed past Jonathan Lai and Nyl Yakura 21-15, 21-8 in 28 minutes.
In the final match, the world No. 15 women’s doubles duo of Hsieh Pei-shan and Hung En-tzu defeated Jackie Dent and Crystal Lai 21-14, 21-17.
Taiwan today face the Czech Republic, who lost 4-1 to South Korea.
Thailand were impressive in Group A as they crushed Hong Kong 5-0, giving themselves a good chance to finish inside the top two and qualify for the quarter-finals of the tournament, which runs until Sunday.
Defending champions China, who have won the Cup 13 times, swept Algeria 5-0, while former winners Indonesia were beating England 4-0 and India were winning 3-0 against Denmark as of press time last night.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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