Concept of 'mixed singles' in international badminton does not hold water, will remain a non-starter

Is there any such event in any sport involving strenuous physical activity, where a woman is pitted against a man in a proper match environment? However, no such ‘mixed singles’ match had been recorded in the history of professional badminton until last week, when Chinese Taipei’s female World No 1, Tai Tzu-ying, was pitted against national-level male rivals on two successive days of action in a tournament that had been organised in Kaohsiung to keep Taiwan’s Olympic-calibre athletes sharp. On Sunday, 2 August, Tai was pitted against a top male player on the first day of a three-day badminton event, with her first opponent being the two-time men’s singles national champion, Lin Chia-hsuan. The 28-year-old Lin, whose highest men’s singles position in the Badminton World Federation rankings was 120th in early-2018, rarely plays in international events anymore, but he was still good enough for Tai to be given a handicap of eight points at the beginning of each game. The reigning World No 1 said she practices with men in her training sessions, but she had never played real matches two days in a row against male rivals “because it would put too much stress on the female body.” In international tournaments, Tai generally plays matches five days in a row if she reaches the finals, but in those cases, she said, both players have expended some of their energy in the lead-up to the finals, and are hence on equal footing.