A match made in heaven is what their fans call the Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin partnership. But the two men only partnered up just over two years ago. Before that, Wang had a different partner, Chen Hung-lin. At one point the pair rose to world''s No. 4. But Chen, who is nine years Wang''s senior, decided to give up his spot and take up a coaching role, thereby opening the way for Lee to partner up with Wang.

On Saturday, the badminton duo took home the gold medal at the Tokyo Games. Wang and Lee stood on the Olympic podium and hung the gold medal around each other’s necks. The two have been playing as partners for just over two years, but they have actually known each other for much longer than that. Wang even admitted that he never liked playing against Lee back in the day.

Wang Chi-lin (July 27)
National badminton team member
I didn’t enjoy playing against him. From junior high to high school, even into college, when I had him as an opponent, I never liked his returns, because they made me quite uncomfortable.

From not liking Lee to becoming his partner with whom he developed a strong rapport, Wang had the partner who would help propel them to victory. But few people know that the winning duo would not have been formed if Wang’s former partner Chen Hung-lin had not decided to give up his spot as a player and become a coach.

Li Sung-yuan
Head coach, Land Bank badminton team
At the time, Chen was already 31 or 32, and Wang was nine years younger, around 22, 23. That’s when we had to think about our strategy for the next stage, so at that time, we went around looking for a suitable candidate, someone in the country who was the best candidate to partner with Wang, and Lee Yang was at the top of the list.

Chen is now 35. Back in 2015, he and Wang rose to the No. 4 spot in the world. In 2019, Wang’s partner changed from Chen to Lee, and all hopes were on Lee’s ability to rapidly attack.

Li Sung-yuan
Head coach, Land Bank badminton team
Chen Hung-lin’s strong point was that he had the technical skills. He played intelligently and had a sharp eye on the court. But his attacks were relatively weaker. Lee, on the other hand, attacked more aggressively than Chen.

According to the head coach’s analysis, Wang has always had a shot at a medal no matter who he partnered with. But having considered what’s best for the team in the long term, Chen decided to give up his player status, left the limelight and took up the coaching role. The formation of this three-way partnership gave the duo the strongest backing they could have asked for. No wonder Wang and Lee’s fans have call their pairing a match made in heaven.