Taipei, July 5 (CNA) Taiwanese badminton players Tai Tzu-ying, Chou Tien-chen, Wang Tzu-wei, and the men's doubles pairing of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin have qualified for the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.
Tai, the world No. 1, will be competing in her third consecutive Olympics and is hoping to win a medal for the first time.
Hurt by unfavorable draws and injury woes in 2016, she was knocked out in the round of 16 in the women's singles at both the London games in 2012 and in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
She said recently in an online interview, however, that she was better positioned to do well this year than in the previous two events.
The 26-year-old set a new record for most accumulated weeks as women's singles world No. 1, and she clinched her third women's singles title at the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham in 2020 after winning the tournament in 2017 and 2018.
She has also won three BWF World Tour Finals.
World No. 4 Chou will make his second appearance at an Olympics after reaching the quarterfinals in Rio in 2016, while Wang Tzu-wei will be competing for the first time in an Olympic Games.
The Badminton World Federation, which confirmed the players who qualified for Tokyo on Tuesday, considered both Chou and Wang dark horses in the men's singles in Tokyo.
The men's doubles pairing of Lee and Wang began a partnership in 2019 and claimed four titles in their first season together.
The duo also won three consecutive titles in Thailand early this year against top competition, but it remains to be seen whether that form will carry over to Japan from July 24 to Aug. 2 when the badminton events will be played.
Originally scheduled to take place during the summer of 2020, the Tokyo Games were postponed in March 2020 and rescheduled for July 23 to Aug. 8, 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event retains the Tokyo 2020 name for marketing and branding purposes.
