Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday exited at the BWF World Tour Finals in China, losing in the semi-finals to China’s world No. 1 Shi Yuqi.
Shi, who was named the BWF Men’s Singles Player of the Year, had a 9-4 record against Chou going into the match. He extended that record to 9-5 with a 21-14, 21-18 victory.
Chou advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday by upsetting top-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a must-win match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium.
Photo: AP
The 16-21, 21-18, 21-15 victory saw Chou secure his second semi-finals appearance at the tournament, despite his relatively older age.
Chou, who at 34 was the oldest among the eight players in the men’s singles, finished with a bronze medal at the 2020 edition. He also participated in the World Tour Finals in 2018, 2019 and 2022.
The tournament invites the top eight players and pairs in each category, dividing them into two groups of four.
Chou, competing in Group A, lost to Malaysian ace Lee Zii Jia and China’s Li Shifeng on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
However, Chou was given a chance to advance after Lee withdrew from his match against Li earlier on Friday due to an injury. He was forced to retire after winning the first game 22-20 and earning a 15-11 lead in the second.
Lee’s exit, combined with a win by Antonsen over Li, turned Friday’s match between Chou and Antonsen into a win-or-go-home decider for the Taiwanese.
They split the first two games, with the score tied seven times in the deciding game before either player reached nine points.
From there, Chou maintained his lead and secured the win with ease, pulling off a decisive 5-0 run after Antonsen had closed the gap to 15-14.
Friday marked the conclusion of the group stage, with Antonsen and Chou finishing first and second respectively in Group A, while Shi and Jonatan Christie of Indonesia advanced from Group B.
Antonsen and Christie were to play after press time last night.
Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, who claimed gold at the Paris Olympics, won the men’s singles championship in the past three editions of the World Tour Finals.
However, he was unable to extend that streak as he pulled out of the tournament earlier this month due to a foot injury.
None of the other Taiwanese at the tournament made the semi-finals.
In the mixed doubles Yang Po-hsuan and Hu Ling-fang had three losses in Group A, while in the men’s doubles, Lee Jhe-huei and Yang, and Wang Chi-lin and Lee Yang both had 1-2 records in Group A.
Lee Yang and Wang won the battle between the two Taiwanese pairs on day one of the competition on Wednesday, while Lee Jhe-huei and Yang defeated the eventual Group A winners, Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen of Denmark, winning 21-10, 21-19 on Friday.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He