OLYMPICS/Lee, Wang likely to advance to badminton men's doubles quarterfinals

Paris, July 30 (CNA) Tokyo Olympic Games gold medalists Lee Yang (李洋) and Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) are highly likely to secure a spot in the men's doubles quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics, following their third consecutive win in Group D on Tuesday.

The Taiwanese duo eased past Vinson Chiu and Joshua Yuan of the United States 21-12, 21-13 in 31 minutes.

Despite the win, Wang, 29, expressed dissatisfaction with his performance against the American pair's aggressive play, crediting his partner for stepping up. "Fortunately, we had Lee Yang today, so I can feel less sorry."

Due to an error by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), Group D contains five teams, one more than the other groups. Two of the five teams in Group D will advance to the quarterfinals. 

The Taiwanese pair, ranked 12th in the world as of July 9, according to the BWF, had previously upset Denmark's world No. 2 duo Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, as well as Japan's world No. 8 pairing Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi.

Their strong performance so far has reminded fans of their success in Tokyo three years ago, particularly as their only success in the past three years was the 2023 Japan Open.

However, 28-year-old Lee emphasized the current situation is different. "We are not thinking about what happened three years ago anymore. After all, we were kind of at our peak back then, but now we just try our best and take one match at a time."

Lee announced earlier this year that he plans to retire at the end of the 2024 season.

The duo are scheduled to face China's Liu Yuchen (劉雨辰) and Ou Xuanyi (歐烜屹) on Wednesday for their last group match.

Meanwhile, table tennis player Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒) also advanced to the round of 16 in the men's singles event in Paris on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old, nicknamed the "Silent Assassin," defeated Croatia's Andrej Gaćina, 38, in 35 minutes, winning four straight games 11-4, 11-9, 11-9, and 11-6.

The victory saw Lin join compatriot Kao Cheng-jui (高承睿) in the next round, one day after Kao's 4-1 win against Eduard Ionescu of Romania in the round of 32.

Lin, who was fourth in the event at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, will next face the winner between Liam Pitchford of the United Kingdom and Darko Jorgić of Slovenia. Lin defeated Jorgić in the quarterfinals three years ago in Tokyo.

In swimming, Eddie Wang Kuan-hung (王冠閎) returned to the men's 200-meter butterfly semifinal in Paris on Tuesday, tying his record from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Wang, 22, entered the heat in lane 3 and clocked 1 minute, 55.32 seconds, finishing behind Ilya Kharun of Canada and Michal Chmielewski of Poland.

His time placed him eighth among the 28 competitors, with the 16 fastest advancing to the next round later the same day.

In Tokyo, Wang broke Taiwan's national record in the same event's heat with a time of 1 minute, 54.44 seconds but did not advance to the final after finishing 13th in the semifinal.

Also on Tuesday, boxer Huang Hsiao-wen (黃筱雯) was knocked out of the women's 54 kg event following her loss in the round of 16 to Stanimira Petrova of Bulgaria, a two-time European champion.

Huang, who won a bronze in the women's 51 kg division in Tokyo, was tied with Petrova after the first two rounds. However, she lost her footing in the last round after a blow from the Bulgarian veteran, which the referee deemed an effective punch, prompting the count.

Despite trying to control her emotions during a post-match interview, Huang could not hold back her tears when recalling the incident, saying that the judge had a "huge impact" on the outcome of the bout.

As of press time, archers Tai Yu-hsuan (戴宇軒) and Lin Zih-siang (林子翔) have been eliminated from the men's individual event in the round of 32, losing to France's Thomas Chirault 6-5 and South Korea's Kim Woojin 6-0, respectively.