Taipei: World No. 9 Taiwanese badminton player Tai Tzu-Ying received a huge boost ahead of the Rio Olympics as she defeated World No. 8 Wang Shixian of China in the Chinese Taipei women’s singles final that was held in Taipei Arena on Sunday.
Wang Shixian got off to a strong start in the first set but Tai was able to level the score at 7-7 and then held on to an 11-7 advantage at the interval. Wang kept her cool to quickly surge ahead with 16-13, and 20-18. Unfortunately, Wang lost momentum late in the first set by wasting 3 consecutive set points to eventually go down 21-23 to Tai.
Tai received a terrific boost of morale after claiming the first set by opened up a huge 8-1 lead, and a 16-5 gap in the second set. Tai mixed up her swift movements and aggressive attacks to eventually capture her second Chinese Taipei Open title after her first triumph in 2012.
“Wang move very fast on the court, I won the match because I was able to keep up with Wang’s pace and start attacking when I get a chance,” said Tai after the match.
The loss could also mean that Wang was out of chances of making to the Chinese Olympic team.
In the all-Chinese women’s doubles final, unseeded Huang Dongping/Zhong Qianxin pulled off an upset to dismissed No. 1 seeds Luo Ying/Luo Yu 21-18, 21-16 in 46 minutes.
The Chinese Taipei Open is a Grand Prix Gold event that offered a total prize money of US$200,000.
