Taiwan badminton duo beat Chinese opponents to win island’s first gold of Paris Olympics
Hong Kong Free Press
Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin clinched Taiwan’s first gold of the Paris Olympics on Sunday when they beat their top-seeded Chinese opponents to retain their men’s badminton doubles title.
The unseeded Taiwanese pair beat Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang 21-17, 18-21, 21-19 in an epic encounter at La Chapelle Arena, becoming the first men’s doubles pair to retain the Olympic title.
But Wang admitted that the pair had “a lot of doubts” heading into the competition after a run of indifferent results.
“In the past three years we didn’t play that well,” said Lee, who announced his retirement after the match.
“Before we came to Paris we heard some people saying they didn’t want us to represent Taiwan.
“I’m happy that in such a tough competition we managed to win the gold.”
Lee and Wang won all their games in Paris and outplayed Liang and Wang in the final.
They also prevented China from winning their third badminton gold of the Paris Games, after the country’s success in mixed and women’s doubles this week.
The tension ratcheted up in a tight third game as the Taiwanese team edged ahead late on.
They fluffed their first match point but made no mistake with the second, crumpling to the ground and screaming with joy.
“They gave us a lot of pressure and it was quite challenging,” said Taiwan’s Wang.
“In the third game we almost exhausted our strength but we received a lot of support and we’re very happy we finally achieved the victory.”
The retiring Lee knelt down to kiss the court after they had sealed the victory.
He said he would become an instructor and “help develop badminton”.
“Last time after Tokyo I didn’t think about retiring, but now I am,” he said.
“This time it has a different meaning and that’s why I kissed the court, to bid a proper farewell.”
Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik took bronze, just like they did in Tokyo three years ago.
The badminton competition concludes Monday with the women’s and men’s singles finals.
South Korea’s top seed An Se-young takes on China’s He Bingjiao in the women’s final while Denmark’s defending champion Viktor Axelsen plays Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the men’s.
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