BADMINTON/Taiwan shuttlers advance to All England Open quarter-finals

Taipei, March 15 (CNA) Taiwanese Olympic gold medalists Lee Yang (李洋) and Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) on Friday upset world No. 2 duo Liang Weikeng (梁偉鏗) and Wang Chang (王昶) from China to advance to the men's doubles quarter-finals at the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships 2024.

Lee and Wang, ranked 10th in men's doubles globally, bested their rivals 22-20, 19-21, 21-16 in one of their better performances since winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

In the opening game, Lee and Wang took an early 16-10 lead, and although Liang and Wang tied the game at 20-20, the Taiwanese shuttlers found something extra to take the next two points and win the first game 22-20.

In the second game the Taiwanese players raced to another early lead, but Liang and Wang picked up the pace and tied the second game three times before taking a more convincing lead at 14-19.

Despite wining five of the next six points, Lee and Wang were unable to capitalize on their momentum, and having got within just one point of the Chinese pairing, lost the second game 19-21.

In the final game, the two sides were neck and neck all the way, tying each other eight times with neither pairing securing any more than a two-point lead.

However, having taken a slim one point advantage at 15-14, the Taiwanese duo found an extra gear and went on to win five of the next seven points to reach 20-14, before closing out the match 21-16 and reach the quarter-finals.

The two pairing had previously played each other on three occasions with Liang and Wang having a 2-1 edge over the Taiwanese duo.

Lee and Wang will play Indonesian world No. 7 duo Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the quarter-finals of the Super 1000 tournament on Saturday.

A second Taiwanese duo, Lee Jhe-huei (李哲輝) and Yang Po-hsuan (楊博軒) also made it to the men's doubles quarter-finals after outplaying Chinese opponents Ou Xuanyi (歐烜屹) and Liu Yuchen (劉雨辰).

The world No. 15 pairing Lee and Yang recently garnered substantial popularity in Taiwan after winning silver at the Yonex French Open on March 10.

They will take on world No. 33 Supak Jomkoh and Kittinupong Kedren of Thailand in the quarter-finals.

In addition, Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) and Taiwan's mixed doubles duo of Ye Hong-wei (葉宏蔚) and Lee Chia-hsin (李佳馨) also advanced from the second round of this year's All England Open into the quarter-finals.