Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎)/CNA file photo

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) won the women's singles finals at the 2018 Badminton Asia Championships in Wuhan, China, Sunday to become the first player to successfully defend the title in 10 years.

Top-seeded Tai defeated the host country's Chen Yufei (陳雨菲) 21-19, 22-20 in a match that lasted 43 minutes.

Currently ranked World No. 2, Tai won every match she played in the tournament in straight sets and is expected to be ranked World No. 1 when new Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings come out next week.

Tai had held the top spot in the BWF's world rankings for 72 consecutive weeks, but dropped to second place two weeks ago due to adjustments to the federation's scoring system.

The 23-year-old was the first Taiwanese player in history to clinch gold for the women's singles at the Badminton Asia Championships in 2017.

She is the first player to defend the title years since 2008, when China's Jiang Yanjiao (蔣燕皎) won the Asian Championships in both 2007 and 2008.

The 2018 Badminton Asia Championships was being held at Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium in China from April 24-29.

(By Oscar Wu and William Yen)
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