BADMINTON / Taiwan shuttlers in four semi-finals at badminton German Open

Taipei, Feb. 28 (CNA) Eight Taiwanese badminton players will compete in four semi-finals at the 2026 Yonex German Open on Saturday in Mülheim.

Lin Chun-yi (林俊易) and Chi Yu-jen (戚又仁) both made it to the men's singles semi-finals after beating their individual opponents in the quarter-finals on Friday, while the pair of Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤) made their way into the men's doubles semis.

Partners Yang Po-hsuan (楊博軒) and Hu Ling-fang (胡綾芳) also punched their tickets into the semi-finals of the mixed event at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 300 event, and the pair of Hsu Ya-ching (許雅晴) and Sung Yu-hsuan (宋祐媗) will be playing in the semis of the women's doubles.

Taiwan's left-handed shuttler, Lin, advanced past China's Weng Hongyang (翁泓陽) to the semis 12-21, 22-20, 21-18 after a rocky start.

Also in men's singles, Taiwan's Chi breezed past his Vietnamese-Irish opponent Nhat Nguyen in a two-game match 21-18, 21-15, remaining undefeated throughout the two players' career matchups.

Besides Lin and Chi taking up two of the four semi-final spots for Taiwan, brothers Christo Popov and Toma Junior Popov clinched the other two semi-final tickets for France, setting up the nations against one another at the semis on Saturday.

Meanwhile, two-time Olympic gold medalist Wang and partner Chiu will also be competing against French shuttlers, Julien Maio and William Villeger, on Saturday at the semis, after the Taiwanese athletes came back from a deficit against the Malaysian duo of Goh Sze Fei (吳世飛) and Nur Izzuddin 16-21, 21-16, 21-18.

Both Taiwanese pairs Yang and Hu, as well as Hsu and Sung, will be playing against their Chinese counterparts on Saturday at the mixed and women's doubles semi-finals.

Yang and Hu were able to secure their chance in the top four after a 21-19, 12-21, 21-17 victory over Thailand's Supak Jomkoh and Oranicha Jongsathapornpan.

Hsu and Sung won a close game from fellow Taiwanese females Yang Ching-tun (楊景惇) and Chang Ching-hui (張淨惠) 20-22, 21-18, 21-19 to play on Saturday.