Taipei, June 22 (CNA) Taiwan's top female badminton player Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) along with many fellow Taiwanese shuttlers advanced to their respective quarter-final matches Thursday at the YONEX Taipei Open 2023.
Of the various matches played Thursday, which featured numerous Taiwan players defeating opponents either from Taiwan or abroad, the most notable match-ups consisted of Taiwan's male badminton star Chou Tien-chen (周天成) against fellow Taiwanese player Lin Chun-yi (林俊易) and Tai taking on 19-year-old Indian badminton player Tanya Hemanth.
Tai, who is a decade older than her opponent, easily defeated Hemanth in a two-game match which lasted just 29 minutes, with scores of 21-11 and 21-6.
Tai commented that Taiwan's fans have become notably crazier, but in a good way.
In the match which saw Chou Tien-chen face off against Lin Chun-yi, the Taiwanese men played a three-game match with Lin coming out on top.
The first game was close between the two, with Lin closing the game only two points ahead 21-19.
Chou subsequently made an impressive comeback to beat Lin by 10 points in the next game 11-21, but he still failed to advance into the quarter-finals after losing his momentum, with Lin winning the final game 21-15.
Also beating their Indian opponents Thursday were Taiwan's mixed doubles team-up Lin Xiao-min (林筱閔) and Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), who outplayed Nelakurihi Sikki Reddy and Rohan Kapoor, also in a two-game match, with scores of 21-13 and 21-18.
Taiwan's Su Li-yang (蘇力揚) also defeated his Indian opponent Parupalli Kashyap in a two-game match 21-16 and 21-17 in the men's singles.
Another notable Taiwan on Taiwan battle that surprised the nation's fans was the men's doubles match between Tokyo Olympic gold-medalists Lee Yang (李洋) and Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) against Lin Yong-sheng (林永晟) and Lin Chia-yu (林家佑).
The Lins together defeated their Olympic-winning opponents in a two-game match 21-15 and 23-21.
Speaking with CNA, Lee said they lost simply because they did not play well and their performance could have been better, adding that Wang is also still nursing an ankle injury which he sustained last year.
