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.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS