PARIS: Men's doubles takes centre stage in badminton at the Paris Games on Tuesday, led by reigning champions Taiwan's Wang Chi-Lin and Lee Yang, part of the 'Group of Death', with top pairs from India, Japan, China and Denmark on court.
The Taiwan duo, who are childhood friends, beat Vinson Chiu and Joshua Yuan of the United States 21-12 21-13 in Group D.
"After Tokyo (Olympics), we've not played very good, so we just need to focus on every match," Wang said.
"We just want to play well. And for us in the Olympics we have that feeling. So we'll just focus more and more, pay attention on the every match."
Wang and Lee, who bagged gold in Tokyo, are part of a group that includes Japan's former world champions Hoki Takuro and Kobayashi Yugo, Olympic silver medallist Liu Yuchen of China, and European champions Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen from Denmark - dubbed by some as the men's doubles 'Group of Death.'
Wang laughed when asked how he feels being in that group.
"It's good experience," he said. "We'll just have to enjoy it and find a way to win every match."
China's Liu Yu Chen, who won silver in Tokyo, and Ou Xuanyi will battle it out with Japan's Yugo Kobayashi and Takuro Hoki, later on Tuesday.
World No 5 duo Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy – widely considered India's best chance of a badminton gold - play seventh-ranked Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto of Indonesia. - Reuters