Taiwan’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin Retain Olympic Badminton Men’s Doubles Title
Taiwan’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin win Olympic gold in badminton men’s doubles, defeating China’s Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in a thrilling final. Malaysia secures bronze.
Paris, Bollywood Fever: Taiwan’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin retained their Olympic badminton men’s doubles title on Sunday, overcoming China’s Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in a gripping final at the Porte de La Chapelle arena. The Taiwanese duo, who won gold in Tokyo and are childhood friends, clinched the match with scores of 21-17, 18-21, and 21-19.
The emotional victory saw Lee and Wang fall to the floor in celebration, while the crowd chanted “Taiwan,” despite the pair competing as Chinese Taipei at the Olympics. Lee threw his racket into the air as they received a standing ovation from euphoric Taiwanese supporters.
“I think last time in Tokyo not a lot of people knew us, but this time people recognised us,” Lee said, adding that he kissed the court at the end of the match to say goodbye to the sport as he plans to retire. “The past three years we didn’t play well, and we heard some people say they didn’t want us to represent Chinese Taipei – I’m very happy our efforts were seen by everyone.”
In the bronze medal match, Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik triumphed over Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen with scores of 16-21, 22-20, and 21-19. The match lasted over an hour, destroyed 34 shuttlecocks, and featured intense rallies. The phrase “Malaysia boleh” (Malaysia can) echoed through the audience as Chia knelt on the court, celebrating their country’s first medal at the Paris Olympics. Malaysia sent a delegation of 26 athletes across nine sports and has medalled in badminton at every Olympics except Sydney and Athens since it became an Olympic sport in 1992.
Earlier in the day, Rio gold medallist Carolina Marin of Spain’s Olympic run ended tragically when she was forced to retire midway through her women’s singles semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao due to a serious knee injury. Marin was leading 21-14, 10-8 and appeared to be on her way to the gold medal match when she collapsed.
He Bingjiao, who had defeated Tokyo gold medallist Chen Yufei on Saturday, advanced to the final on Monday. In the other women’s semi-final, Indonesia’s Gregoria Tunjung took the first game 21-11 against top seed An Se-young, who was struggling with an injured knee. However, An rallied in the second and third games, winning 21-13, 21-16 to secure her place in the final.
In the men’s singles, chants of “Viktor” filled the arena long before defending champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark faced India’s Lakshya Sen. Despite strong support for Sen, Axelsen won a close first game 22-20 and dominated the second game 21-14 to reach Monday’s final against Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, who defeated Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia 21-14, 21-15.
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