Taiwanese paddlers Chuang Chih-yuan (???) and Peng Wang-wei (???) advanced to the finals of the men's doubles at the WTT Contender Muscat 2022 in Oman after their opponents forfeited their semifinal match Friday.
Chuang and Peng were given the automatic win after Jakub Dyjas of Poland and Cedric Nuytinck of Belgium forfeited their match at the last minute and progressed to the final of the tournament, which is being held at Sultan Qaboos Sport Complex in Muscat, Oman.
The Taiwanese team will engage in a showdown Saturday with the Chinese duo of Lin Shidong (???) and Xiang Peng (??), who outdueled Darius Movileanu and Eduard Ionescu of Romania in the semifinals.
The 40-year-old Chuang, also known as the "Godfather of Taiwan table tennis," and 25-year-old Peng began the tournament by advancing from the preliminary round, then defeating Indians Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai by three sets to two in the round of 16 Wednesday.
The Taiwanese duo then defeated another Indian duo of Manush Utpalbhai Shah and Manav Vikash Thakkar by three sets to one in the quarterfinals Thursday.
Meanwhile, Taiwan mixed doubles duo Cheng I-ching (???) and Li Hsin-yu (???) fell to Chen Xingtong (???) and Wang Chuqin (???) of China 11-3, 11-6, 11-9 in the semifinals Friday.
Cheng made headline news in Taiwan last year when she and her partner at the Tokyo Olympics, Lin Yun-ju (???), won a bronze medal, Taiwan's first Olympic table tennis medal in 21 years.
The WTT Contender Muscat 2022, held Feb. 27 to March 5, carries a total purse of US$75,000.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel