Taiwan’s Olympic gold medalists Lee Yang (??) and Wang Chi-lin (???) fought their way into the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles at the BWF World Championships in Spain, after a second game scare, by defeating Malaysian pair Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin Thursday.
Third seeds Lee and Wang defeated 14th seeds Goh and Izzuddin 21-18, 17-21, 21-18 in a thrilling 68 minute match at Spanish sports complex Palacio de los Deportes Carolina Marín in Huelva.
The Olympic champions also improved their head-to-head against Goh and Izzuddin to 1-1, after losing to the Malaysian duo at the Indonesian Open last month.
Lee and Wang next face ninth seeds Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia in the quarterfinals on Friday.
During the last 16 match Thursday, the competition was fierce in the opening game and the scores tied eight times before Lee and Wang pulled ahead to reach game point at 20-18. Seizing the opportunity, Wang unleashed a series of smashes to pocket the first game 21-18.
The scores remained close in the second game, but the Malaysians reached game point at 20-17 before a wide shot by Wang handed them the game 21-17.
However, the Olympic champions regrouped in the rubber to hold a two point advantage 11-9 at the break.
Goh and Izzuddin applied pressure to tie the score at 17-17 before Lee and Wang won the next three points to reach match point at 20-17. The Malaysians saved the first point but conceded the second to lose the match 21-18.
Lee and Wang kicked off their World Championship campaign by defeating Ruben Jille and Ties Van Der Lecq of France 18-21, 21-7, 21-11 in their opening match Tuesday, after having received a bye in the first round.
The duo won Taiwan’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in badminton by winning the men’s doubles at the Tokyo Games this year, and also clinched the men’s doubles title at two Super 1000 Thailand Open tournaments in Bangkok in January and the BWF World Tour Finals 2020 in the same month.
In addition, they were also named by the BWF as the Most Improved Players of the Year on Dec. 3 to top off an amazing season.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel