Taipei-Taiwanese Olympic gold medalists Lee Yang (??) and Wang Chi-lin (???) reached the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles at the Indonesia Masters 2022 badminton event after overpowering Terry Hee and Loh Kean Hean of Singapore in straight games Thursday.
The third seeds Lee and Wang defeated Hee and Loh 23-21, 21-16 in the second-round men’s doubles match, which was their first-ever matchup and lasted 35 minutes on court 3 at Istora Stadium in Jakarta.
The Taiwanese duo, ranked fourth in the world, will next face the fifth seed pairing of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in the quarterfinals.
Back at the match Thursday, the first game was tight from beginning to end with Lee and Wang the first to reach game point at 20-19.
Hee and Loh saved the first game point, but the Taiwanese pair secured a second game point at 21-20.
From there, the Singaporeans saved their second game point to draw level before Lee and Yang took the next point to earn a third game point and closed out the game 23-21.
In the second game, the Taiwan duo fell behind 7-4 before winning nine consecutive points to lead 13-7. With that cushion they reached match point at 20-16 and took the game 21-16.
While Lee and Wang have only competed in the Thomas Cup, the Thailand Open, and the Indonesia Masters this year, they had a very good year in 2021, when they won Taiwan’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in badminton at the Tokyo Games.
They also clinched the men’s doubles title at two Super 1000 Thailand Open tournaments in Bangkok in January 2021 and the BWF World Tour Finals the same month.
In December 2021, the Badminton World Federation named them the most improved players of the year.
Taiwanese badminton star Chou Tien-chen (???) also booked his place in the men’s singles quarterfinals at the Indonesia Masters after out dueling Lee Cheuk Yiu (???) of Hong Kong 21-11, 18-21, 21-16 in a round of last 16 match that took one hour and two minutes.
The world No. 4 and third-seeded Chou will face seventh-seed Lakshya Sen of India in the quarterfinals. Chou defeated Sen in a three-game thriller during the Thomas Cup last month in their only meeting.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese shuttler Wang Tzu-wei (???) was knocked out of the Indonesia Masters after being overpowered by world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 21-10, 21-13 in the second round on Thursday.
The Super 500 Indonesia Masters event, held June 7-12, carries a total purse of US$360,000 (NT$10.63 million).
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel