Vancouver: Badminton players from Taiwan have secured all four semifinal spots in the men’s doubles at this year’s BWF Canada Open, ensuring that the title will be claimed by a Taiwanese pair for the first time in over a decade.
According to Focus Taiwan, the top-seeded twin brothers, Lee Fang-jen and Lee Fang-chih, are among the duos in the semifinals. They are joined by He Zhi-wei and Huang Jui-hsuan, Chang Ko-chi and Po Li-wei, as well as Wei Chun-wei and Yang Po-chih. The last time a Taiwanese pair won the Canadian Open men’s doubles title was in 2014, when Liang Jui-wei and Lu Chia-pin achieved the victory.
The Lee brothers, who recently secured third place at the Swiss Open in late March of this year, will face off against He and Huang for a spot in the final match. Meanwhile, Taiwanese female shuttlers Hsu Yin-hui and Lin Jhih-yun have also progressed to the women’s doubles semifinals after their victory over Hu Ling-fang and Jheng Yu-chieh with scores of 16-21, 21-16, 21-19 in the quarterfinals.
The other women’s doubles semifinalists include the Japanese pair Kaho Osawa and Mai Tanabe, who will compete against Taiwanese players Chang Ching-hui and Yang Ching-tun for a place in the final. In the singles event, world No. 6 Taiwanese badminton player Chou Tien-chen was eliminated from the Canada Open after a defeat to Indian player Srikanth Kidambi with scores of 18-21, 9-21 in the quarterfinals.