Saturday, 30 January 2021
Chinese Taipei’s world number one Tai Tzu Ying stands between the Rio 2016 champion Carolina Marín and an unprecedented third straight Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 1000 title in Bangkok tomorrow.
Both players earned relatively straightforward semi-final wins today at Impact Arena in the BWF World Tour Finals, with the Spaniard having the advantage of playing home hope Pornpawee Chochuwong when the latter was hampered by an ankle injury.
Marín took full advantage as she advanced with a 21-13, 21-13 victory.
Tai knew too much for the talented 18-year-old from South Korea, An Se-young, who had beaten Marín in her final group match the day before - albeit that Marín was experimenting with some new shots in a match that was a dead rubber for her.
WTF Day 3 – Koreans top half the groups
For the second straight day at the World Tour Finals, Korean shuttlers went a perfect 5 for 5, with Choi Sol Gyu and Seo Seung Jae becoming the first of 5 to score the win that would put them atop their group and into the semi-finals.
By Don Hearn. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)
Korea’s Choi Sol Gyu and Seo Seung Jae started this year’s World Tour Finals with their backs against the wall. They managed to lose the very first match of the tournament and were then facing the prospects of need to beat the current World Champions
BADMINTON: Pornpawee Chochuwong stunned Ratchanok Intanon to begin her HSBC BWF World Tour Finals campaign with a tough three-game victory at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani, last night (Jan 27).
BADMINTON: Mixed doubles stars Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai claimed their second BWF World Tour Super 1000 titles in a fortnight with a straight-game win yesterday (Jan 24).
TOYOTA THAILAND OPEN Finals – 2nd verse, same as the first!
Lee Yang and Wang Chi Lin sparked a string of repeat titles from last Sunday as the Toyota Thailand Open concluded after just 8 games and one new and one Thai champion.
By Don Hearn. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)
Finals day at the Toyota Thailand Open looked an awful lot like last weekend’s, other Thailand Open. Four of the winners were the same, one of the matches even had the same runner-up, and another was a repeat of last Saturday, rather than Sunday. Unlike last weekend, not a single match went to a deciding game, either, so it was over even faster.