Chinese Taipei pair win badminton men's doubles title

Chinese Taipei’s number seven seeds in the men’s doubles badminton competition caused an upset to win gold against the number three seeds from the People’s Republic of China at Tokyo 2020.

WANG Chi-Lin and LEE Yang overpowered former world champions, LI Jun Hui and LIU Yu Chen, 21-18, 21-12 in just 34 minutes at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza on 31 July.

"This is our dream together, to step on to the podium at the Olympics," said an elated Wang, who had been making his Olympic debut with Lee. "This will be a very touching memory for the future."

On the way to the final, the Chinese Taipei pair had already shocked the number two seeds, Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, by beating them 21-11, 21-10 in one of the two semifinals. But they faced an upset of their own when they lost the opening group match. "At the time we were a little bit disappointed, thinking maybe we will come back three years later in Paris 2024 and do better," said Wang. "But surprisingly we came all this way and became the champions. I don't know what to say."

Li and Liu had hoped to retain the men’s doubles badminton title for the People’s Republic of China. The country has reached the men's doubles final in each of the past three Olympic Games and has won gold in this event in London 2012 and Rio 2016.

In the second semifinal, Li and Liu beat Malaysia’s CHIA Aaron and SOH Wooi Yik 24-22, 21-13. The pair went on to claim the bronze after beating world ranked number two Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-17, 21-17, 21-14.