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Chan sisters participate in Rio 2016 Olympics

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Younger sister Chan Hao-ching (left), and older sister Chan Yung-jan

Chan sisters participate in Rio 2016 Olympics

Younger sister Chan Hao-ching (left), and older sister Chan Yung-jan

Five Taiwanese tennis athletes will participate in the tennis event at the Rio 2016 Olympics, including the four-time veteran Lu Yen-hsun, Hsieh Su-we, sisters Chan Yung-jan and Chan Hao-ching, and Chuang Chia-jung.

Lu will play in men’s singles, while Hsieh in women’s singles. The Chan sisters as well as Hsieh and Chuang will compete in women’s doubles.

However, Hsieh has earlier announced via Facebook that she would be dropping out of the Olympic women’s doubles. Chinese Taipei Tennis Association secretary-general Liu Chung-hsing said Chuang will not lose her Olympic qualification simply because of what her teammate said.

Lu, 33, beat Andy Murray in the first round of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and advanced to the third round, which has been his best Olympic performance.

The Chan sisters have been making efforts to qualify for the upcoming Olympics since early last year. In 2015, they won the women’s doubles titles at the PTT Pattaya Open in Thailand in February, the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati in August, and the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in September. They also advanced to the quarterfinals in the US Open in September. As they performed brilliantly throughout the year, their doubles rankings went up, which helped them secure a berth at the year-end WTA Tour Championships.

The sisters' world doubles ranking has reached the 5th, their career high, this year, which has easily made them qualified for the Rio Olympics.

Looking back, Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung were stopped in the second round of women’s doubles at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

This year, the Chan sisters will play at the Olympics as a team for the first time. To the younger sister, it will be her first Olympic appearance.

The older sister said she felt special about being able to compete in the Olympics with her younger sister, who said “I think we are ready to receive the big tournament.”