Chen Yu Fei and Tai Tzu Ying will be aiming at gold for their first ever Olympic medal after He Bing Jiao and Pusarla V. Sindhu go down fighting in semifinals.
Just yesterday, we saw how Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang/ Wang Chi-Lin and China’s Li Jun Hui/ Liu Yu Chen won the men’s doubles semifinal, meaning it would be a clash to become champions between Chinese Taipei and China. After today’s women’s singles semifinal results, it looks like the two countries will be facing each other in yet another final.
Whatever the result, tomorrow’s match between Chen Yu Fei, China, and Tai Tzu Ying, Chinese Taipei, will result in a very special victory.
A special semifinal but without any nerves
Chen Yu Fei and He Bing Jiao were the first up to face each other and fight for a spot in the women’s singles players finals. The compatriots have trained together and clearly know each other well, so they both had the task to set it all aside to win.
- It's a very big deal for me because we are very familiar with each other and because it's a competition I have to feel a little different compared to the training. The atmosphere is different, the competition is different, Chen explained.
The first game was won by top seed Chen, but He quickly picked herself up for the second game and stroke back, taking the all-Chinese match to a decider. It looked like it was going to be a tough call between the two in the third game, but Chen eventually dominated the match to 21-16, 13-21, 21-12.
This is Chen’s Olympic debut, and she will be leaving with a medal and not just any medal, but gold or silver. Before knowing if she would be facing Tai Tzu Ying or Pusarla V. Sindhu, the player emphasised that she will remain calm despite the huge moment that awaits her.
- I treat this competition as a normal competition so I'm not nervous, even thought this is the Olympics. I will try my best. I will just perform as I usually do. It doesn't matter what the result is, I will still do my best. Either of my opponents are very strong so I will still try my best to beat them in the finals, Chen said.
No mistakes to give the best possible performance
Tai Tzu Ying outshone Sindhu with her strong and smart tactics. A win in straight sets for the player from Chinese Taipei, Tai proved that she is worthy of a medal in her third Olympics.
- I think I did pretty well today. I didn't make any major mistakes. I think I did my best performance today.
The two singles players had already faced each other in Rio 2016, and the outcome was quite different. In the Round of 16, Sindhu stopped Tai from reaching quarterfinals with a win in straight games. This time, the roles were reversed.
- I think I'm the kind of player who makes mistakes from my side, so today I reduced my mistakes and therefore didn't have as much pressures as I used to, Tai said.
- I was prepared for her skills, so I don't think that troubled me a lot. At the end of the day the level of the semifinals is going to be really high - you can't expect easy points. I just couldn't be on the winning side, Sindhu stated.
Reduce mistakes
This will be Tai’s first Olympic final and she will have to fight 23-year-old Chen for the gold. The women’s single stars have already faced each other countless times and both have delivered strong performances in these Olympic Games so it remains to be seen who will get the gold.
- I think Chen Yu Fei is a very stable player and I hope that when I get the chance I will reduce my mistakes, Tai said.