Taiwanese badminton ace Chou Tien-chen was crowned the men’s singles champion at the Arctic Open on Sunday, after defeating Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-11, 13-21, 21-19.
The 35-year-old Chou, who is ranked world No. 5, and the 24-year-old Vitidsarn, ranked world No. 3, battled it out for one hour and 17 minutes in a grueling three-game match at Energia Areena in Vantaa, Finland.
In the first game, Chou took an early 9-7 lead and maintained his momentum, widening the gap, before defeating Vitidsarn 21-11.
Photo: CNA
At the start of the second game, the two players were neck-and-neck. When Vitidsarn pulled ahead 14-13, Chou appeared to be fading, and the Thai shuttler scored seven straight points to win the game 21-13.
Chou seemed to regain his momentum in the third game, taking an early 10-5 lead, but Vitidsarn gradually caught up, leveling the playing field again.
With the score tied at 19-19, Chou made a strategic play to edge ahead 20-19, and he later forced Vitidsarn to hit the shuttlecock out of bounds, ending the game 21-19.
The two-game win gave the Taiwanese player the match and earned him the men’s singles title at the Arctic Open.
Chou later revealed that he had been playing with a bloody left foot after he ruptured a blister halfway through the match.
Speaking with the Central News Agency after the match, Chou said he felt the pain, but kept going.
“This match was a fight for the children,” Chou said, referring to several young fans in attendance at Vantaa.
“I wanted to set an example for the kids,” he added.
Chou likely developed the blister as a result of playing four three-game matches in the final rounds, clocking a total of 286 minutes of playtime before facing off against Vitidsarn in the finals.
The Thai shuttler had clocked 209 minutes of playtime in the last four matches before coming up against Chou.
Sunday’s match marked the seventh time that Chou and Vitidsarn had faced off, with Chou prevailing 5-2.
Chou is to next compete in the Denmark Open, which starts today and runs through Sunday, at the Arena Fyn in Odense.
Jesper Boqvist on Tuesday scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period as the Florida Panthers, after raising their second straight NHL Stanley Cup banner, opened the defense of the title by beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. Mackie Samoskevich — getting his second assist, the fifth two-point game of his career — chipped the puck toward the goal and Boqvist knocked it out of the air for the lead with 10 minutes, 20 seconds left. A.J. Greer and Carter Verhaeghe also had goals for Florida, who got 17 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Frank Nazar had a goal and an assist and Teuvo
Mexico’s teenage playmaker Gilberto Mora has lit up the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile as he basks in the limelight afforded by the absences of Barcelona and Real Madrid stars Lamine Yamal and Franco Mastantuono. “I don’t know if I’m the biggest star, and I’m not really interested in that. I think you can always give more,” 16-year-old Mora said before Mexico’s 4-1 win against host nation Chile in the round-of-16 on Tuesday, in which he provided the assist for the opening goal. Next on Mora’s schedule is a quarter-final clash against Argentina this morning Taiwan time, but after
World No. 3 Alexander Zverev on Monday said that he was playing “terrible tennis” after he was knocked out of the Shanghai Masters by France’s Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. His exit leaves Novak Djokovic as the tournament’s top-ranked player, increasing the 38-year-old Serb’s chances of winning a record-extending fifth title in the Chinese financial hub. In stifling conditions, world No. 54 Rinderknech came back from a set down to stun an increasingly rattled Zverev into submission. It is the second time the Frenchman has beaten him, after bundling him out of Wimbledon earlier this year. A despondent Zverev told reporters the match had
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Nathan Lukes hit a two-run single and Addison Barger had three of Toronto’s 12 hits as the Blue Jays bounced back After taking down the storied New York Yankees in their own ballpark in their American League Division Series on Wednesday, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider was ready to revel in the triumph. “Start spreading the news,” Schneider said while popping a bottle of bubbly to set off the Blue Jays’ jubilant celebration inside their Yankee Stadium clubhouse. With the party under way, the familiar lyrics from Frank Sinatra’s version of New York, New York — the Yankees’ long-time victory anthem — sounded in the background as roaring Toronto players sprayed each other with booze in the Bronx. This time, it was their
RSS