Lin Chun-Yi has surprised us by winning the Yonex All England Super 1000 in March 2026. We noticed that his match journey at the Yonex All England 2026 was not as easy as we thought. Of course, it is a Super 1000-level tournament, and anything could happen on the court. There is only one player who has a strong motive: keep his/her focus well; he/she/they could win the tournament. Before Lin Chun-Yi got the title of the Yonex All England 2026 Winner, he defeated his senior and country-compatriot, Wang Tzu-Wei, in the first round; then, in the second round, the top player from Indonesia, Jonatan Christie, lost to Chun-Yi in two sets in 48 minutes. In the quarterfinal round, Lin Chun-Yi played against Christo Popov of France and won the game in two sets, too. The more higher World Ranking Player than Lin Chun-Yi, Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand, lost to Lin Chun-Yi in the semifinal round. This was the only match that Lin Chun-Yi completed to win in a rubber set. He came into the final of the Yonex All England. In the final round, Chun-Yi defeated Lakshya Sen of India and grabbed the gold medal.
That was surprising enough, because
after he grabbed the title in the Yonex-India Open last January, he had gotten down in the team event, the Tsingtao Badminton Asia Team Championship 2026.
We guess due to it was the first time in the team event he played as the Men's Singles (MS)-1 for the Chinese Taipei’s Men’s Team. For the first time, he was a bit
under-pressured (IDK, perhaps it was only my wild thinking). If we were looking
back at Lin Chun-Yi’s matches in the Yonex-India Open, he entered the final
round after defeating the youngster from Canada, Victor Lai, in three sets in one
hour. However, in the final round, Lin Chun-Yi needed only 38 minutes to knock out
Jonatan Christie in two sets. It was a good turning point to win since in the
very early tournament of 2026, the Petronas Malaysia Open, Lin Chun-Yi stopped
in the first round. A bad draw for him because he was against his senior, Chou Tien
Chen.
Unfortunately, Lin Chun-Yi was injured,
or he was sick, or something after winning the Yonex All England. He had to
walk over from the Badminton Asia Championship 2026. He also did not give the
maximum result when he was planning to compete in the team event, BWF Thomas & Uber
Cup 2026 in Horsens, Denmark. Chou Tien Chen and Chi Yu-Jen were the main
bullets for Chinese Taipei’s Men Singles in the group stage qualification since
Lin Chun-Yi did not fit well. Lin Chun-Yi only played once in the group stage, against the host country, Denmark. He lost as MS-2 to Magnus Johannesen in
three sets.
After the BWF Thomas & Uber Cup
was held, I noticed from Lin Chun-Yi’s Instagram that he had already registered his and his girlfriend’s marriage. He is officially a husband now. I hope his
marriage is not an excuse for his dropping performances in some tournaments
after the BWF Thomas & Uber Cup 2026. He only participated in the KFF
Singapore Open Badminton Open, Polytron Indonesia Open, and Sathio Group
Australian Badminton Open. He even failed to pass the quarterfinal round for
those three tournaments.
If I could give a score for Lin
Chun-Yi in the 2026 first semester’s report: C+.
The Badminton Lovers should have
known Chiu Pin-Chian since last year. She surprisingly became the Winner of
the Iksan Victor Korea Master 2025, and successfully entered the semifinal
round again in the Kumamoto Master Japan Master 2025. Many people believed that
Chiu Pim-Chian would be a potential women's singles player from Taiwan since she has good technique, good shots, and a very nice skill how to defense the opponent’s attack, however, she still has a lack of maintaining her stamina throughout the whole match.
Chiu Pin-Chian’s last year’s good
performances does not seem run well through the first semester of 2026. The
highest peak she could reach was when Chiu Pin-Chian got into the
Quarterfinal round in the Yonex German Open in March after meeting and defeating
her two compatriots in first and second round, Sung Shuo Yun and Pai Yu Po. She
had to lost to Han Yu of China in the quarterfinal round in three sets, 26-24,
21-23, 10-21, in 1 hour 9 minutes.
Chiu Pin-Chian is the first and main
ace of the Women Single and she took a role as a-WS-1 in the team squad. The
Official and team trust her to play in every match both of Tsingtao Badminton
Asia Team Championship 2026 and the BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2026.
Also, she had made the Chinese Taipei Women’s Team in BATC got into the
semifinal round and got a bronze medal. At Badminton Asia Team Championship,
Chiu Pin-Chian mostly earned points for her team, except when the Chinese Taipei Women’s Team faced South Korea’s. Of course, Pin-Chian lost to
their strongest Women's Singles player, An Se Young. However, in the BWF Thomas
& Uber Cup Finals 2026, Chiu Pin-Chian had a plot twist! She couldn’t even win any matches when she was pointed by the official to play as WS-1. Oh, let
me clear it, she only won when the team faced the Australians’ Uber Team.
She took the game from Tiffany Ho in 34 minutes. She lost to another Women
Team’s WS-1, like Michelle Chen of Canada and Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia, in the group stage elimination, and An Se-Young of South Korea in the quarterfinal knock-out. The Chinese Taipei Team also failed to go through the semifinal
round.
Then, another great performance of
Chiu Pin-Chian in the first half of 2026 is reaching the quarterfinal of a Super-1000-level tournament, the Polytron Indonesia Open 2026. It was not really good,
but when it is compared to the other results of hers, it is quite enough to be
considered good. She reached the quarterfinal after defeating two players from
Thailand, Ratchanok Inthanon and Pitchamon Opatniputh in the first and second
rounds. Yet, she lost to Akane Yamaguchi in the quarterfinal round. Now, it is
nice to see how Chiu Pin-Chian and Akane Yamaguchi see each other in the court.
Sometimes it becomes a fast-paced match, but sometimes it can be a slow-paced match.
Akane may dominate it, yet Pin-Chian is eager to learn from her past errors.
If I could give a score for Chiu
Pin-Chian for the 2026 first semester’s report: C.
Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin are pairing up right after Lee Yang—Wang Chi-Lin’s ex-partner and Tokyo and Paris Olympic Gold Medalist — stated that he has decided to retire from the national team and as a professional badminton player. In the beginning, Chiu Hsiang Hsieh/Wang Chi-Lin had a strong motive to rise up together as a pair. They only needed almost a year to break into the Top 20 of the world ranking, and became the Men's Doubles (MD)-1 of the Chinese Team. In 2025, too bad—Hsiang Chieh/Chi-Lin only won the champion in their home country, the Yonex Taipei Open 2025. Chiu/Wang rarely made it through the quarterfinal round until the make it into the semifinal round in the Kumamoto Japan Master 2024. They went through the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2025. Chiu Hsiang Hsieh/Wang Chi-Lin were eliminated in the group stage because they lost to all the participants in the group, Kin Wonho/Seo Seung Jae of South Korea, Man Wei Chong/Kai Wun Tee of Malaysia, and Sabar Karyaman Gutama/Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani of Indonesia.
What happened to them?
This year, Chiu Hsiang Hsieh/Wang Chi-Lin started their world tour in the Tsingtao Badminton Asia Team Championship 2026. They were set up to face Hong Kong China and South Korea’s Men Team. Hsiang Hsieh/Chi-Lin gave the team a point when they faced Hung Kuei Chun/Lui Chun Wei of Hong Kong China. But they failed to add one point when Hsiang Hsieh/Chi-Lin lost to Kang Min-Hyuk/Ki Dong Ju of South Korea. The Chinese Taipei team went through to the knockout stage. In the position 1-2 against China, the team should have won in the last MS section, but Chiu Hsiang Chieh/Wang Chi-Lin failed to nail it; in the fourth game or match of MD-2, they lost to He Ji Ting/Ren Xiang Yu.
A good start for Chiu Hsiang Chieh/Wang Chi-Lin's Europe tournament tour. They got into the semifinal round. However, they should know that Julien Maio/William Villeger of France were stronger than them. When their teammate, Lin Chun-Yi, got the title in the Yonex All England, Hsiang Chieh/Chi-Lin could not even get through the second round. They lost to Malaysia representative Man Wei Chong/Kai Wun Tee in 2 sets in 33 minutes.
Chiu Hsiang Hsieh/Wang Chi-Lin paid off their sorrows in the Tsingtao Badminton Asia Team Championship 2026. They scored for the team in the group stage of the BWF Thomas & Uber Cup 2026. They won against Mio Molin/Max Svenson (Sweden), Yong Jin/Seo Seung Jae (South Korea), and Daniel Lundgraad/Mads Vestergaard (Denmark).
Unfortunately, Hsiang Chieh/Chi-Lin did not got their peak performances afterward. They kept losing in early matches in the three Southeast Asian and Australian tournaments. Chiu Hsiang Chieh/Wang Chi-Lin lost to China representative, Chen Bo Yang/Liu Yi in three sets in KFF Singapore Open 2026; lost to Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae in the Polytron Indonesia Open 2026; they lose even to their very new compatriot pair, Chen Cheng Kuan/Liu Kuang Heng in the Sathio Group Australia Open 2026 in two sets: 19-21, 17-21.
If I could give a score for Chiu Hsiang Chieh/Wang Chi-Lin for the 2026 first semester’s report: C-
Come back stronger, boys! Oh, also, I do not want to forget to congratulate Wang Chi-Lin for being a dad. Congratulations! We hope that Wang Chi-Lin will get new spirit and energy in the future matches because he should make his little baby proud of him.
Hsieh Pei-Shan/Hung En-Tzu started the BWF World Tour tournament with confident good results. In the Super 750 Yonex-Sunrise India Open, Pei-Shan/En-Tzu reached the quarterfinal round. They won only two sets two in in the first and second rounds. However, the Malaysian pair, Tan Pearly/Thinaah Muralitharan, defeated them in the quarterfinal. Meanwhile, their teammates grabbed their first title at the Yonex All England, Hsieh Pei-Shan/Hung En-Tzu lost their match in the quarterfinal round. Pei-Shan/En-Tzu lost to China pair, Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning in two sets in 51 minutes. Hsieh Pei-Shan/Hung En-Tzu failed to hold their “quarterfinal round-streak” in the Europe tour due to they lost to their country compatriot, Lin Xiao Min/Wang Yu Qiao in three sets in the second round. Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning defeated Hsieh Pei-Shan/Hung En-Tzu again in the quarterfinal round of Bank Of Ningbo Badminton Asia Championship 2026.
Then, Pei-Shan/En-Tzu has shown their best effort when they were contributing in the BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2026. They brought two points winning when the Chinese Taipei Uber Team was meeting Canada and Indonesia. Josephine Wu/Eliana Zhang and Amallia Cahaya Pratiwi/Siti Fadia Silvia Ramadhanti both are lost to Hsieh Pei-Shan/Hung En-Tzu in two sets in the second and third group stage for the Chinese Taipei Team. Unfortunately, Hsieh Pei-Shan/Hung En-Tzu made South Korea got the second point in the knock out round after Lee So Hee/Lee Yeon Wo defeated them in the rubber game in 69 minutes.
In the last tournaments before we closed the first semester of 2026, Hsieh
Pei-Shan/Hung En-Tzu is likely didn’t get their peak performance, like when
they got their titles in 2025, the Yonex Taipei Open 2025 and the Sands China
Ltd Macau Open 2025.
Hsieh
Pei-Shan/Hung En-Tzu got an early exit in the Toyota Thailand Open 2026 and the KFF
Singapore Badminton Open. They retired in the Toyota Thailand Open 2026 when
they were against Bao Li Jing/Cao Zi Han of China. But in the KFF Singapore
Badminton Open 2026, they tried to complete their first match even though they
lost to the Japanese pair, Arisa Igarashi/Chiharu Shida in two sets. In the
Polytron Indonesia Open 2026, Pei-Shan/En=Tzu lost to the host country
representative pair, Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma/Meilysa Trias Puspitasari. In three games. And, the Malaysian pair, Low Zi
Yu/Noraqilah Maisarah, defeated Pei-Shan/En-Tzu in three games in 100 minutes
match in the first round of the Sathio Group Australian Badminton Open 2026.
If I
could give a score for Hsieh Pei-Shan/Hung En-Tzu for the 2026 first semester’s
report: C.
It was right after the Paris Olympic, Ye Hong Wei had separated from his previous Mixed Doubles partner, Lee Chia-Hsin. He is partnered up with a young girl who has just moved up from the junior level, Nicole Gonzales Chan. Based on the article I read, Nicole Chan has mixed blood of Taiwanese and Filipino. In the junior level era, Nicole played in Women's Doubles with her partner, Yang Chu-Yun. They also have a good record in the World Junior Championship 2023. Since Nicole Chan is set to play only in the Mixed Doubles section with Ye Hong Wei, her duet with Yang Chu-Yun is also being stopped.
Ye
Hong Wei/Nicole G. Chan only need about one year to make sure their points
through the Top 20 in the world ranking and become the second Mixed Doubles pair in
the Chinese Taipei National Team, after Yang Po-Hsuan/Hu Ling Fang. Now, they
are slowly but sure climb into the first Mixed Doubles pair in the national
team.
In
March, Ye Hong Wei/Nicole Gonzales Chan surprised the Badminton Lovers when
they won the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championship after
defeating the seeded pair from France, Thom Giqcuel/Delphine Delrue, in two
games. It was more surprising compared to what Lin Chun-Yi got in a
similar tournament. In early 2026, Ye Hong Wei/Nicole Gonzales Chan never went
through the quarterfinal round in the Petronas Malaysia Open in last January, the Yonex-Sunrise India Open, Yonex German Open. And, *boom*, Hong
Wei/Nicole Chan stated that they are the winners of the Yonex All England Open
Badminton Championship 2026. Unfortunately, Hong Wei/Nicole couldn’t maintain their peak performances after winning in the Yonex All England Open
Badminton Championship 2026. Not until the Southeast Asian world tour did a good
draw allow them go through into the quarterfinal rounds in the Toyota Thailand
Open 2026. Ye Hong Wei/Nicole Gonzales Chan won against their compatriot in
two-first matches, Wu Hsuan-Yi/Yang Chu-Yun and Tsai Fu Cheng/Sung Yu-Hsuan. In
the quarterfinal round, they lost to the host country representative, Dechapol
Puavaranukroh/Supissara Paewsampran in 57 minutes (three games). Also, in the
Polytron Indonesia Open, Ye Hong Wei/Nicole Gonzales Chan lost to their
compatriots in the first two matches, Wu Guan Xun/Lee Chia Hsin, and the new
pairing duo, Liu Kuang Heng/Hsu Yin-Hui. They lost in the quarterfinal round
after the Chinese pair, Guo Xin Wa/Chen Fang Hui, defeated Hong Wei/Nicole Chan in a
rubber game in one hour. In the KFF Singapore Badminton Open 2026, they lost to
the Japanese pair, Yuichi Shimogami/Sayaka Hobara in 31 minutes, in just two
games, in the first round.
For comparison, in the KFF Singapore Badminton Open 2025, Ye Hong Wei/Nicole
Gonzales Chan reached the semifinal round, and Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Supissara
Paewsampran defeated them before the final round. Also, in the Petronas
Malaysia Master 2025, Hong Wei/Nicole Chan reached the semifinal round, and they
lost to Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping.
If I could give a score for Ye Hong Wei/Nicole Gonzales Chan for the 2026 first semester’s report: C+.
Hong Wei/Nicole Chan set in the first seeding in their home country tournament, the Yonex Taipei Open 2026; we hope they can make it completely.
Well, see you in the Taiwanese Badminton Players' First Semester's Tournament Report part 2. We'll see the tournament journey of Chi Yu-Jen, Lin Hsiang-Ti, Lee Jhe-Huei/Yang Po-Hsuan, Hsu Yin-Hui/Lin Jhih-Yun, and Yang Po-Hsuan/Hu Ling Fang.
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