Olympic silver medalist Tai Tzu-ying’s (???) hopes of a first World Championship women’s singles badminton title were dashed Sunday after being outplayed by world No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in straight games.

The top-seeded Tai, apparently hampered by an injury as the match wound down, lost 21-14, 21-11 to her Japanese foe, who was the more battle-tested of the two players entering the tournament, having played and performed well in several events since the Olympics in late July while Tai had remained idle.

Tai had never made it further than the quarterfinals of a World Championships despite being a top 10 player since late 2012 and a top five player since mid-2015, and at the age of 27, this may have been her last best chance at a title.

The world No. 1 seemed poised to do well early, opening a 7-4 lead in the opening game. But Yamaguchi took over control of the points, successfully moving Tai around and keeping her pinned deep in the court before striking with well-placed drop shots that earned her several points.

Yamaguchi led 11-10 at the break, but then ran off eight of the next 11 points to go up 19-13. She took the game when the Taiwanese rushed a smash wide and then uncharacteristically netted a rather routine forehead into the net on game point.

During the break between games, Tai removed a tight band around her right thigh and replaced it with a different wrap, and the suggestion of an injury turned into reality when her movement was clearly impaired as the second game progressed.

Tai actually seemed in command for the first time in the match when she put her Japanese opponent under pressure and won six straight points to go up 7-4 in game 2.

But just when Yamaguchi seemed to be doubting herself, the Taiwanese netted a forehand, hit a smash wide, got too cute on a short drop shot, and then netted another forehand to fall behind 8-7, and her resistance collapsed after that.

With the score tied at 9, Yamaguchi won 10 of the next 11 points, as Tai increasingly was unable to move freely enough to retrieve drop shots that fell in front of her, and when Tai, down 20-14, misjudged a serve by the Japanese that fell in, the match was over.

Tai was only the second Taiwanese woman to reach a World Championships final, after Cheng Shao-chieh (???), who reached the finals in 2011 but lost to Wang Yihan (???) of China.

Even with the defeat, her silver medal culminated an excellent year. Tai won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics in late July and also powered her way into the finals of three tournaments in Bangkok in January 2021, before clinching the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2020.

She also won the BWF Female Player of the Year award this month in recognition of her achievements in 2020 and 2021.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel