KAOHSIUNG (Taiwan), April 9 (Bernama-CNA): After competing on the badminton court for over two decades, Taiwanese top female shuttler Tai Tzu-ying has announced she will retire at the end of next year.
Tai, 28, revealed her retirement plan on Saturday night when attending a commercial activity in her hometown Kaohsiung, according to Central News Agency (CNA).
"I plan to retire at the end of next year. That would be a wrap even if I still could play then," said the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medalist, indicating she wanted to rest.
Tai, now ranked fourth in the world, has talked about retiring from time to time over the past two years, but this is the first time she has pinpointed the exact timing.
"My initial plan was to play until the end of last year (2021), but after completing the season, I felt that I was good to continue," she said in a recorded interview released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) last August.
Tai started playing badminton at age five and began competing internationally at age 15.
She has had an illustrious career in women's singles. Among her accolades are three All England Open titles (2017, 2018, and 2020) and three BWF World Tour Finals titles (2014, 2016, and 2020).
In addition to the Tokyo Olympics silver medal, Tai also finished runner-up at the 2021 BWF World Championships to Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, tying with Chen Shao-chieh for the best tourney record ever achieved by a Taiwanese female player in that category.
Tai's announcement on Saturday implied that the Paris 2024 Olympics would probably be her last competition.
"My mindset coming into the game now is to savor each moment I am still on the court, but I think I would play until the end of the season next year. I want to rest even if I still could play then," Tai said. - Bernama-CNA
