Taiwan badminton duo Lee and Wang keep Finals hope alive

Taipei, Dec. 2 (CNA) Taiwan's Olympic men's doubles gold medalists Lee Yang (李洋) and Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) kept their chances of making the semifinals of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals in Indonesia alive by sweeping World Tour No. 3s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark in straight sets Thursday.

Lee and Wang took down Astrup and Rasmussen 21-13, 21-12 in 37 minutes on Court 2 at the Bali International Convention Center. The Taiwanese duo also extended their head-to-head advantage over the Danish pairing to 4-1.

Currently in second place in Group A of the men's doubles competition with a 1-1 record, Lee and Yang will be handed a walkover Friday against World Tour No. 7s Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy of India, who were forced to withdraw after Rankireddy complained of knee pain.

Lee and Wang will advance to the semifinals if they can remain in second place in their group after the tournament's top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia take on Astrup and Rasmussen Friday.

The BWF World Tour Finals, the final event of badminton's annual World Tour, consists of the top eight players and teams in each category, with gold medalists from the 2020 Summer Olympics also qualifying for the tournament.

The players and pairs in each category are divided into two groups of four, with the top two from each group progressing to the semifinals.

The tournament, which is being held from Dec. 1-5 and features a total prize purse of US$1.5 million, is also the last stop of the three-tournament "Indonesia Badminton Festival 2021."

The festival also includes the US$850,000 Super 1000 Indonesia Open, held Nov. 23-28, and the US$600,000 Super 750 Indonesia Masters, held Nov. 16-21.