Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin Make History, Becoming First Men’s Doubles Pair to Defend Olympic Title

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Congratulations to Wang Chi-lin/Lee Yang for successfully defending their Olympic gold medal. (Photo: Reuters)
Congratulations to Wang Chi-lin/Lee Yang for successfully defending their Olympic gold medal. (Photo: Reuters)

Paris: Taiwan’s World No. 12 men’s pair, Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin clinched their second Olympic gold medal on Sunday by defeating China’s World No. 1 pair, Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang, in the badminton men’s doubles final at the Paris Olympics with scores of 21-17, 18-21, 21-19.

Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics, earning Taiwan’s first gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. They also became the first men’s doubles pair in badminton history to defend the Olympic gold medal.

After the final, Lee Yang kissed the court floor in farewell, expressing his gratitude: “I felt that kissing the court was a way to say goodbye to the place where I have fought for so long. I thank it for giving me everything, for the people I met, and for the wonderful experiences I had. Of course, there were hardships, but we don’t need to elaborate on them. It’s enough that we, the players, know. I am grateful that everyone can see the best side of us; we bear the burdens ourselves.”

Lee Yang ended his Olympic journey with a gold medal, posting a photo of his gold medal on social media with the caption: “The last dance, this is for you.”

 

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Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin’s victory in Paris made them the third men’s doubles pair in Olympic history to reach the gold medal match twice, and they are the first pair to successfully defend their title, achieving 12 consecutive wins across two Olympics. This victory further solidified their status as a formidable badminton men’s doubles pair, and men’s doubles pair born for the Olympics.

Wang Chi-lin, also thanked his partner (Lee Yang) for their last dance together, stating that winning the gold medal again with Lee Yang was the most glorious moment of his career.

Since 28-year-old Lee Yang had announced before the Paris Olympics that he would retire after the Chinese Taipei Open in September, they will be split up after the Olympics. Wang Chi-lin, 29, cherished their memorable matches together, while Lee Yang thanked Wang Chi-lin for their years of partnership and understanding.

After retiring from the Taiwan national team, Lee Yang will join the National Taiwan University of Sport as an associate professor, continuing to contribute his knowledge to the development of badminton in Taiwan. Wang Chi-lin will return to the national team, looking for a new young partner to compete on the international stage.

Meanwhile, in the men’s doubles bronze medal match, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik won Malaysia’s first medal of the Paris Olympics by defeating Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the men’s doubles bronze medal match, with scores of 16-21, 22-20, 21-19.

Chia and Soh were trailing 16-20 in the second game after losing the first, but they made an incredible comeback, winning six consecutive points to take the game 22-20 and eventually winning the match in the third game.

After the match, Aaron Chia said, “I think this is the greatest comeback in our international career, even better than when we won the world championship in 2022.”

In the 2022 World Championships, Chia and Soh lost the first game 20-22 in the semifinals against India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty but won the next two games 21-18, 21-16 to reach the final, where they defeated Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in straight games, bringing Malaysia its first world championship in badminton history.

Soh Wooi Yik was emotional about their bronze medal match comeback, saying, “When we were trailing by a large margin, I remembered this was our last match and possibly the last point of this Olympics, so we didn’t want to give up, and fought for every point, leading to the miracle.”

Reflecting on the match, Soh noted that the Danish pair executed better in the first few shots of each rally. “They kept pressuring us and targeting the center, causing us to make mistakes.”

Aaron Chia added, “The Danish pair played very well in the first game and most of the second game. When they were leading 20-16, they might have been too eager to win, which disrupted their tactics.”

Proud to win another medal for Malaysia, Chia, and Soh felt a sense of accomplishment. Aaron Chia said, “We are proud to win Malaysia’s first medal at the Paris Olympics. Although we set higher goals before the games, winning the bronze is still great.”

“Over the past three years since winning bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, we have continued to learn and improve, also winning the world championship. Although we only won bronze again after three years, from another perspective, we have remained consistently strong enough to win medals for Malaysia.”

In men’s singles competition, Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia lost to 14-21, 15-21 to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, while defending champion Viktor Axelsen beat Lakshya Sen of India 22-20, 21-14 in the semifinals.

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