Tokyo 2020
'Dream' gold for Chinese Taipei duo
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The Chinese Taipei pair of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin, who lost their opening group game, defied expectations with a win over the Chinese duo in the final.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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TOKYO • Childhood friends Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin won the men's doubles badminton gold yesterday in Tokyo, giving Chinese Taipei their first Olympic medal in the sport.
They beat China's world No. 6 Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen 21-18, 21-12 in the final in just 34 minutes at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza.
China won the mixed doubles the previous day and had hopes of pulling off a golden badminton sweep in the Japanese capital. But world No. 3 Lee and Wang were too strong, claiming gold after knocking out the No. 1 and No. 2 teams along the way to the final.
"This is our dream together, to step onto the podium at the Olympics," said Wang, who was making his Olympic debut with Lee. "This will be a very touching memory for the future."
In their first match in the group stage, they lost to Indians Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and did not expect that they could advance to the end.
"At the time we were a little bit disappointed, thinking maybe we will come back three years later in Paris 2024 and do better. But surprisingly we came all this way and became the champions. I don't know what to say," added Wang.
In the third-place play-off, Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik delivered their country's first medal at the Games following their 17-21, 21-17, 21-14 win over Indonesia's world No. 2 Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
The Malaysian pair had also defeated another Indonesian duo, the world No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, in the group stage.
Chinese Taipei could claim another gold or at least a silver today in the women's singles, and will be pinning their hopes on world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying after she ousted India's P.V. Sindhu in the semi-finals yesterday.
Tai won 21-18, 21-12 to set up a final showdown with Chen Yufei of China.
"I think I did pretty well today," said the 27-year-old.
"I didn't make many mistakes, so I didn't feel so much pressure.
"I need to go back and relax and prepare for tomorrow because it's not over yet."
Chen, the world No. 2, beat compatriot and training partner He Bingjiao 21-16, 13-21, 21-12.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
