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Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
SportChina

Tokyo Olympics: Taiwan beats China, lands men’s doubles gold to end long wait for first badminton medal

  • The duo of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin knock off Chinese No 3 seeds Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen at Musashino Forest Sports Plaza
  • Tai Tzu-Ying guaranteed a second medal after 29-year wait, faces No 1 seed Chen Yufei in women’s singles final

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Taiwan's Lee Yang (left) and Wang Chi-lin pose with their men's doubles badminton gold medals at a ceremony during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza. Photo: AFP
Jonathan Whitein tokyo

Taiwan’s 29-year wait for an Olympic badminton medal ended in style on Saturday night with gold in the men’s doubles.

To make victory even sweeter for Taiwan’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin it came over the Chinese pairing of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen, ending China’s quest for three men’s doubles golds in row.

Taiwan’s shuttlers will add at least a silver to that historic gold in Tokyo as Tai Tzu-Ying cruised past Rio 2016 silver medallist PV Sindhu of India in the women’s singles semi-final.

While the Taiwanese men’s doubles pair is No 3 in the BWF world rankings, compared to the China duo’s No 6 ranking, it was the Chinese who were seeded third in Tokyo.

Taiwan’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin celebrate winning their men's doubles badminton final match against China’s Li Junhui and China's Liu Yuchen at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: AFP
Taiwan’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin celebrate winning their men's doubles badminton final match against China’s Li Junhui and China's Liu Yuchen at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: AFP

Lee and Wang lost their opening group game, progressing on better game difference than Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the Indian duo who beat them.

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