The real battle for the continental crown began on Wednesday with the top seeds taking the courts of the Al Nasr Club at the KhiladiX.com Dubai 2023 Badminton Asia Championships.
While for the women’s singles stars, Dubai is familiar territory with a lot of happy memories, the younger lots were striving to make one for them.
Chinese Taipei’s fourth seed Tai Tzu Ying was happy to return to Dubai, a place where she has two BWF Super Series Finals titles in 2014 and 2016. She hoped to create some new memories this time around.
Tai Tzu Ying wasn’t too happy about her first-round show at the Badminton Asia Championships, having taken time to adjust to the conditions of the compact stadium.
“It’s nice to be back in Dubai again. I played okay today – it wasn’t too great. The stadium is small; so I took time to adjust to the conditions here. I hope it will be okay from the next matches,” said the Olympic silver medallist who defeated Yeo Jia Min 21-17, 21-18.
“My focus is to play each game well and get the important ranking points in the race to Paris 2024 Olympics.”
For P.V. Sindhu, it was a home away from home with a lot of Indian fans cheering for the two-time Olympic medallist and waiting for a picture or her autograph. Sindhu, the eighth seed in the championship, was returning to the Emirate after the Indian team’s bronze medal at the Mixed Team Championships in February.
“Every time, the first match is like knowing the court and its conditions. I was leading the second game, but then she gave away a few points. Happy to be on the winning side. Definitely, I want to play in the finals on Sunday but it's not going to be easy as the matches are very competitive. Looking forward to the match tomorrow (against China’s Han Yue),” said Sindhu, who was stretched to the limit in the second game by her Chinese Taipei opponent Wen Chi Hsu before she won 21-15, 22-20.
“To stay mentally and physically fit is my main goal now.”
In the other half of the draw, defending champion Wang Zhi Yi was surprised by the fighting spirit of Myanmar qualifier Thet Htar Thuzar who rallied back from 3-11 to level 20-all before losing 21-11, 23-21.
Wang is already through to the quarter-final after a walkover from the second-round opponent from Thailand Pornpawee Chochuwong and is expected to face top seed Akane Yamaguchi in the quarter-finals.
“Akane (Yamaguchi) and An Se Young have been performing well this year. It won’t be easy to face her (Akane). I will find a way to tackle her,” said the sixth seed.
“My aim for this year is to break my own record.”
