Lee Yang (L)/Wang Chi-lin of Chinese Taipei celebrate after winning badminton men's doubles final match in the Tokyo Olympics at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo, Japan, July 31, 2021. /CFP
Chinese Taipei's Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin won badminton men's doubles gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday.
Lee/Wang defeated China's pair Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen 2-0in the final at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo.
Both sides attended the Olympics and reached the final for the first time. Li/Liu once led 11-7 but Lee/Wang took control later with faster and more aggressive plays, coming back to win the first set 21-18.
Lee/Wang continued with their fast offense in the second set, leading from 11-5 to 17-6. Though Li/Liu managed to save two match point from 20-10 to 20-12, their trail was too much to beat before losing the second set 21-12.
This is the first badminton gold for Chinese Taipei.
Earlier on Saturday, Malaysia's Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik beat Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia 2-1 (17-21, 21-17, 21-14) to win the bronze medal.
There are three badminton events left in the Tokyo Games. Chen Long will challenge Anthony Ginting of Indonesia in a men's singles semifinal match on Sunday. The other semifinal match will take place between Denmark's Viktor Axelsen and Spain's Kevin Cordon.
China's Chen Yufei will play against Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei in women's singles final on Sunday after China's He Bingjiao plays Sindhu of India for the bronze.
The women's doubles final will happen between Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan of China and Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu of Indonesia on August 2.