Taiwan: The Taiwanese badminton team ended the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with 1 gold – Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin in men’s doubles and 1 silver – Tai Tzu Ying in women’s singles. It was Taiwan’s best-ever performance in the Olympic badminton event.
The team flew home Wednesday on an Airbus A350 plane and was greeted by four mirage fighter jets. The jets released decoy flares on the left and right sides of the plane before it landed at Taoyuan airport.
View this post on Instagram
In addition to Lee, Wang, and Tai, World No. 4 men’s singles player Chou Tien Chen, World No. 11 Wang Tzu Wei, together with coaches and support staff were also on the flight, and they were all assigned business class seats.
Two weeks ago, Taiwanese athletes complaint that they were tricked by the Taiwanese government after they found out they were assigned the economy seats on their way to Tokyo to participate in the 2020 Games. That caused a big stir among the Taiwanese society and prompted the Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen to issue an apology and promised business class for the athletes when they return home.
Upon their arrival at the Taoyuan airport, the athletes were greeted with crowds who shouted “pride of Taiwan” together with signs saying “welcome home national players”.
