China's Liu/Ou reach Badminton Asia Championships quarters, keep Paris 2024 hopes alive

NINGBO, April 11 (Xinhua) -- China's Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi and Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin of Chinese Taipei secured their places in the men's doubles quarterfinals at the Badminton Asia Championships here on Thursday, continuing their fight for the category's last berth at this summer's Paris Olympic Games.

As the Asia Championships offers the final chance for Asian shuttlers to qualify for Paris 2024, Liu/Ou and Lee/Wang, who ranked eighth and tenth prior to the event, were set to vie for the last berth.

On Thursday, Liu/Ou fought 49 minutes to move past South Korea's Kim Young-hyuk and Wang Chan 21-16, 22-20, while Lee/Wang notched up a 21-11, 21-14 win against Supak Jomkoh and Kittinupong Kedren of Thailand.

"We don't pay too much attention to the ranking points. We focus on our own performance, trying to win. Today we made a step forward and took the initiative," said Liu.

China's He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu, who were also in the running for an Olympic spot ahead of Thursday's match, retired due to He's back injury after losing the first game 21-11 to a Malaysian pair.

The top two women's singles seeds, An Se-young of South Korea and China's Chen Yufei, both swept their opponents in straight games, while third-seeded Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei was stunned by Japan's Aya Ohori 22-20, 21-14.

Several home favorites progressed to the last eight in straight games, including men's singles top seed Shi Yuqi, women's doubles top-ranked pair Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan, and mixed doubles top seeds Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong.