USA on a Roll – World Juniors

Text by BWF

USA won their second come-from-behind tie in two days, beating Thailand to top Group H and take their place in the quarterfinals of the BWF World Mixed Team Championships 2024.

Thailand had the lead going into the penultimate match, but USA’s Ella Lin, who was the standout player in their tie against Philippines yesterday, once again stepped up. Lin outplayed Yataweemin Ketklieng 14 points to 6, giving the USA men’s doubles pair of Weslie Chen/Kyle Wang a five-point advantage at 99-94 going into the last match.

To their credit, Chen and Wang stayed calm through the tense final stretch to help USA breast the tape at 110-107 and a place in the last eight.

“There was pressure in the last match, but we’ve been playing for a long time; I trust him with my life,” said Kyle Wang. “It was intense and exciting as it came to the wire. I do think we can go all the way.”

“We were just telling ourselves to trust ourselves,” added his partner. “We knew we could do it. The energy with our team, we were ready for anything. It means a lot to beat Thailand. This is my first World Juniors, and being part of this team is exciting, and to beat Thailand — we lost to them last year — it’s like revenge.”