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(Photo: Badmintonphoto)
Chinese Taipei and China to meet in men’s doubles final
Date: 7/30/2021 3:35 PM
Published by : Sara Gonzalez Martinez (BEC)
Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang/ Wang Chi-Lin and number three seeds Li Jun Hui/ Liu Yu Chen, China, will meet in Tokyo 2020 men’s doubles final.

Today has been a good day for China and Chinese Taipei in badminton and not just in one of the categories. It was an all-Chinese final in mixed doubles with Wang Yi Lyu/ Huang Dong Ping defeating top seeds Zheng Si Wei/ Huang Ya Qiong for gold, meaning there would be two Chinese pairs on the category’s podium. Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying, women’s singles number two seed, secured a win against Ratchanok Intanon, Thailand, after a hard-fought match.

The two countries will be facing each other in the competitive men’s doubles category. It has been a journey of surprises with some of the favourites leaving, and the final is bound to be a great spectacle.

A lot of pressure in the hardest tournament
The unseeded pair from Chinese Taipei did not give the number two seeds a chance. With a result of 21-11 21-10, Indonesian duo Mohammad Ahsan/ Hendra Setiawan were not able to stop Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang/ Wang Chi-Lin. 

- Today we didn't do as well because our opponents were very strong and clearly put a lot of pressure on us and we weren't able to escape from that, Ahsan said.

- This is the hardest tournament so far and we want to keep on trying to do our best for tomorrow's match. I tried my best but as you can see, our opponents played very well today so I wasn't able to get out of that pressure, Setiawan explained.

The world number three men’s doubles pair Lee/ Wang did not get off to a great start their Olympics, losing to Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/ Chirag Shetty, India, after a three-game battle. However, it only got better from there for the duo as they have beat some tough opponents with a determination that has taken them to the finals.

- It's so exciting to be playing on such a big stage. We played with our idols and every point was difficult and also very nice, Wang said.

- It's a great recognition of our training and all our efforts we have made towards this match, but we will try to do better, Lee stated.

Inspired by fellow teammates’ wins
Malaysia’s Aaron Chia/ Soh Wooi Yik had a tough challenge ahead, with Chinese duo Li Jun Hui/ Liu Yu Chen standing on their way of an Olympic gold or silver. However, they could not secure a win to get their hands on either of those medals after losing 24-22 21-13.

- I think for the first game, we were leading but on the crucial point, we gave back and we were point-to-point. So we were a little nervous, but we still tried to get the points. I think it's frustrating because we were leading in the first game and at the same time, they came back so I think we were a bit rushed to get the points.

The nerves did not play in their favour which resulted in a win in straight games for the Chinese number three seeds. Li/ Liu did not give up after a tight first game and relentlessly fought in the second one. The earlier all-Chinese mixed doubles final is something that Liu says motivated them to go on and win.

- The first game was extremely important and our points were very close. We both tried very hard. Both teams tried very hard to win, Li stated.

- We play as one team and we all do our best, especially for the mixed doubles today. Both played very well and we have a gold and a silver and we were very much inspired by them, Liu said.
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