Chengdu: After World No. 14 Chou Tien-Chen outlasted World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen 21-19, 14-21, 21-19 in the first men’s singles match between Taiwan and Denmark, badminton fans might have anticipated some positive momentum started brewing within the Tainese men’s team.
Highlights of Taiwan vs. Denmark in the 2024 Thomas Cup quarterfinals:
Pressure started mounting on the Denmmark team after Taiwan took a 2-0 lead when World No. 10 Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin pulled off another upset to down World No. 4 Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-14, 21-15.
Although Anders Antonsen kept Denmark’s hope alive by beating Lin Chun-Yi 14-21, 21-10, 21-14, to narrow the gap to 1-2 for Denmark, Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-Huei/Yang Po-Hsuan’s performance in the second men’s doubles match was solid, overcoming Rasmus Kjær/Frederik Søgaard with scores of 23-21, 21-18, helping Taiwan’s team beat Denmark 3-1. This victory also marked the first time in the history of the Thomas Cup that the Taiwanese team advanced to the semifinals.
The best previous achievement of the Taiwan men’s team in the Thomas Cup was in the quarterfinals. Now, they have created a historic moment by advancing to the semifinals, where they will compete with Indonesia for a spot in the final.
Taiwan’s top female player, Tai Tzu-Ying, who closely followed the men’s team’s progress and, upon their advancement, expressed her excitement on her Instagram story: “Creating history!!! I’m just so happy.”
Here are the Thomas and Uber Cup semifinals on Saturday:
Thomas Cup:
China vs. Malaysia
Indonesia vs. Taiwan
Uber Cup:
China vs. Japan
Indonesia vs. Korea
