NEW DELHI: It is cold outside but inside the indoor stadium some quality badminton is setting the stage on fire literally. Tai Tzu-ying is is one of the exponents who seems to be in a happy spot at the moment. She's doing what she does best, manipulating the shuttle at will and getting those all-important 'Ws'. At 29, the widely-recognised shuttler, who has loads of experience behind her, is not getting any younger and there have been talks about her retirement from the sport.
She might not be as near-flawless like she used to be during her prime, but she has been purring in her recent matches. On Saturday, that was visible yet again as she captivated a sizeable crowd here with some high-quality badminton.
Sporting her trademark headband, the Taiwanese magician was off to a relatively modest start against Singapore's Yeo Jia Min in the women's singles semifinals. However, Tai never lost her laser focus and the World No 3 came out on top to reach her nth final of her decorated career.
Her upswing in results could not have come at a better time — just about six months before the all-important Olympics. After signing off the year 2023 with a title (BWF World Tour Finals), she reached the Malaysia Open final last week. The winner of 16 BWF World Tour titles now has a chance to add to that tally. Even after the match, she was acknowledging the crowd and had a beaming smile on her face.
"I'm very happy. In the second game, I was falling behind but I managed to win. I enjoyed playing today (Saturday). I think that the audience cheering for me gave me strength and helped me turn the game," she told reporters with the help of a translator during the post-match interaction.
Jia Min found out what Tai can still offer at this stage of her career. Jia Min herself had taken a massive step forward after taking a game off World No 1 An Se-young barely twenty-four hours ago and had entered her clash against Tai with a good dose of optimism. And she did get off to a positive start, taking a small lead over her more-accomplished rival on Saturday. Employing her well-known deceptive shots, Tai turned the tide in her favour. After going ahead for the second time in the game, Tai never looked back and went on to seal the game with relative ease.
The second game was a tricky one as Tai was behind for the most part. However, she held her nerves during the business end to get over the line. With the crowd rallying for her, Tai was visibly fired up as she celebrated her points along with the crowd.
With the Olympics on the horizon, her aptitude to find answers during critical moments bodes well for her. Having just missed out on a gold medal during the Tokyo Olympics, Tai will be determined to change the colour of the medal this time. "This event is a platform for me. This will help me in the future," she said, when asked about her gold-medal aspirations.
An, BWF Female Player of the Year 2023, has hands down been the standout in recent times. There are other well-known faces like Carolina Marin, Chen Yu Fei and Akane Yamaguchi, to name a few, who have all the tools in their game to challenge for titles. Tai is undoubtedly in the picture and it'll be fascinating to see if she can continue to torment her rivals with her dynamic play.