Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday exited in the semi-finals at the China Open in Changzhou, beaten by the world’s No. 2 player in men’s singles badminton.
Chou, who is ranked No. 6 in the world, was eliminated 21-13, 22-20 by Shi Yuqi of China, despite the Taiwanese claiming healthy leads in both games.
The 35-year-old Chou, who on Friday beat world No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in the quarter-finals, shot to a 6-2 lead in game 1, but his Chinese opponent eroded the advantage and took the lead at 12-11. From there, Shi conceded only two further points in the game.
Photo: AFP
In game 2, Chou did not concede ground so lightly. He was up 8-4, 11-8 and 15-12, with each lead a response to Shi having leveled the scores.
However, from 15-12 Shi stormed to an 18-15 lead before wrapping up the match in 45 minutes to take his head-to-head record against Chou to 13-5.
Photo: AFP
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