Chou Tien-chen yesterday fell 22-20, 21-18 to China’s Shi Yuqi in the Badminton Asia Championships semi-finals in Wuhan, China.
Shi needed only 46 minutes to see off Taiwan’s world No. 5 and set up a final pitting the top two men’s singles players against one another.
Title-holder Kento Momota is to face Shi today, after the Japanese eased through his semi-final with a 21-18, 21-8 victory over unseeded Vietnamese veteran Nguyen Tien Minh.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Chou on Friday became the first Taiwanese in the past 20 years to advance to the semi-finals of the men’s singles after defeating Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto 22-20, 24-26, 21-15.
In a hard-fought match that lasted 1 hour, 20 minutes, Chou quickly picked up the pace of play in the first game and took an 8-1 lead before winning the match.
In the second game, he found himself down 14-20, and even though he scored six consecutive points, he still conceded the game 24-26.
With the third game tied 13-13, Chou managed to win by scoring five consecutive points, defeating Nishimoto for the fifth time.
His performance matched the record set by Taiwan’s Chen Feng, who won the bronze men’s singles medal at the 1999 championships.
Last year, Chou also became the first Taiwanese to win a silver medal at the badminton men’s singles tournament in the Jakarta Palembang Asian Games.
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