Tai Tzu Ying

Jayce September 6, 2024 10 4

Character Introduction

Tai Tzu Ying’s father, Tai Nan-kai, is a firefighter and also serves as the general secretary of the Kaohsiung City Badminton Committee. In his spare time, he enjoys playing badminton, which influenced Tai Tzu-ying to start practicing the sport in third grade at Minquan Elementary School in Kaohsiung’s Qianzhen District. She improved rapidly and, by sixth grade, had competed throughout Kaohsiung and won the B Group championship in the Taiwan badminton ranking tournament, qualifying for the A Group and becoming the youngest A Group player in Taiwan’s badminton history.

In her first international event, the Vietnam Open, Tai Tzu-ying secured the runner-up position, defeating notable players including current world number 20, Indonesian star Maria Febe. At the Korea Open in early 2010, she lost a three-set match to Hong Kong’s top player, Zhou Mi, in the second round. After the match, former world number one Zhou Mi praised the 16-year-old Tai Tzu-ying, stating, “She has great potential, and if she continues to work hard, she will be a formidable opponent in the future.”

In 2011, Tai Tzu-ying defeated prominent players such as Zhu Lin, Lu Lan, Wang Yihan, and Wang Xin. She won her first career title at the 2011 US Open.

In July 2012, Tai Tzu-ying represented Chinese Taipei at the London Olympics in the women’s singles. She won her first Olympic match with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-10) victory over 34-year-old Finnish veteran Anu Nieminen and then defeated Mexico’s Victoria Montero 2-0 (21-6, 21-10) to advance to the knockout stage. She was later defeated by China’s Li Xuerui 2-0 (16-21, 21-23) in the knockout stage.

In the 2012 Japan Super Series, Tai Tzu-ying won her first career Super Series title and broke into the top ten of the world rankings for the first time.

In early 2013, at the Malaysian Badminton Super Series, Tai Tzu-ying went undefeated and defeated top opponents like Tina Baun and Saina Nehwal. She won the final 2-0 against Yao Xue, rising to ninth in the world rankings.

On November 27, 2016, in the Hong Kong Open women’s singles final, world number one Tai Tzu-ying defeated Rio Olympic silver medalist, Indian player P.V. Sindhu, in straight sets. This victory marked her return to the Hong Kong Open women’s singles title and propelled her to the top of the world rankings, making her the first player from Chinese Taipei to achieve the number one ranking.

On April 16, 2017, Tai Tzu-ying won the Singapore Super Series women’s singles title with a 21-15, 21-15 victory, setting a record for a 17-match winning streak and five consecutive titles. On June 30, the BWF released the latest world rankings, and Tai Tzu-ying was ranked number one in women’s singles.

At the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, Tai Tzu-ying won the women’s singles final against third seed P.V. Sindhu of India in just 34 minutes with a 2-0 victory, earning her first Asian Games gold medal and making it the first Asian Games title for the Chinese Taipei badminton team.

In 2021, Tai Tzu-ying won the silver medal in women’s singles at the Tokyo Olympics, losing to Chen Yufei in the final.

On December 19, 2021, Tai Tzu-ying lost to Akane Yamaguchi 0-2 in the women’s singles final at the BWF World Championships, finishing as the runner-up.

World Ranking – Women’s Singles 4, Week 33, 2024

Olympic Points – Women’s Singles 5, 92736 points

Finals Ranking – Women’s Singles 18, 37300 points