Taiwanese men’s badminton ace Chou Tien-chen on Saturday lost to world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in straight sets in the men’s singles semi-final at the All England Open.
Fourth seed and world No. 4 Chou was no match for top seed Axelsen, losing 21-13, 21-15 in 48-minutes, at the Super 1000 tournament in Birmingham.
The defeat brought the matchup tally between Axelsen, 28, and the 32-year-old Chou to 14-2 in the Dane’s favor.
Photo: AFP
Chou was runner-up at the 2020 All England Open, the best performance by any male shuttler from Taiwan in the event.
Axelsen’s victory set him up to yesterday face India’s Lakshya Sen, who beat Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia on Saturday.
Sen battled to a thrilling 21-13, 12-21, 21-19 victory against defending champion Lee.
The 20-year-old rising star, a World Championships bronze medalist, is just the fourth Indian man to make the All England final.
“I’m happy that I got the crucial points. It’s a dream and now there’s one more match to go, so I will keep my focus and prepare for tomorrow,” Sen said.
World No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan was shocked by South Korea’s An Se-young 21-19, 21-13 in the women’s semi-finals.
Tai, a three-time All England winner, was soundly beaten in just 40 minutes by the world No. 4.
An was to face Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in yesterday’s final after she edged Chinese third seed Chen Yufei 21-11, 21-13.
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