HIGHLIGHTS

• Tai Tzu Ying receives a bye to the quarter-final of Women’s singles badminton
• Tai topped Group P with 3 wins, did not drop a game in the group stages
• Tai is likely to face Ratchanok Intanon in the quarter-final later this week

World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying is one of the favorites to win the badminton gold medal in the absence of Carolina Marin at the Tokyo Olympics. The Asian Games gold medalist and the 3-time All England champion has been underperforming at the biggest tournaments as an Olympic and world championship medal has been eluding her.

Tai has achieved her first goal at the Tokyo Olympics. The Chinese Taipei star has made it to her first-ever Olympic quarter-final. She was ousted in the Round of 16 at both London and Rio. In fact, Tai lost to India’s PV Sindhu who eventually went on to win a silver at the Rio Games.

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Tai has been in fine form, winning all her 3 group-stage matches without losing a game. The World No. 1 has topped Group P and she has been handed a bye for the Round of 16 due to her 2nd seeding in the women’s singles event.

“This is the first time I’m getting to the top eight at the Olympics,” Tai said after hammering France’s Qi Xuefei in straight games on Wednesday.

“Now the most important thing is to prepare.”

Tai is likely to face Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in the quarter-finals and the star shuttler knows facing the highly-rated Thai shuttler won’t be an easy task.

Tai said that she thinks a potential match with Ratchanok Intanon from Thailand might be “difficult” because their strategies and tactics are similar, and Intanon often hits very fast smashes.

In a tight match with Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah, Intanon won 19-21, 21-18, 21-10.

Early in her first game against women’s world number 29 Turkey’s Neslihan Yigit, China’s Chen Yu Fei seemed to get caught up in the shaky energy Tai brought to her previous two matches. Chen – the world’s second best women’s singles player – ultimately regained her footing, crushing Yigit 21-14, 21-9.

Meanwhile, India’s PV Sindhu stormed into Round of 16 after making light work of challenge from Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi. Sindhu will face a tricky test as she faces dynamic Denmark shuttler Mia Blichfeldt in the pre-quarterfinals.