Taiwan badminton players reach semifinals at Yonex Thailand Open

Update: Taiwan shuttlers reach finals at Yonex Thailand Open

Taipei, Jan. 15 (CNA) Taiwan's top badminton players, including world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎), reached the semifinals at the Yonex Thailand Open in Bangkok on Friday.

World No. 2 Chou Tien-chen (周天成) was the first Taiwanese player on court in the men's singles quarterfinals against No. 10 Lee Zii Jia (李梓嘉) of Malaysia.

The 31-year-old Chou came from two points behind his 22-year-old opponent at the interval of the first game to win 21-17.

The beginning of the second game was a see-saw tussle before Chou built up a six-point lead just ahead of the interval and went on to win 21-15.

In the semifinals, Chou will meet world No. 8 Angus Ng Ka-long (伍家朗) of Hong Kong, who beat Taiwan's Wang Tzu-wei (王子維) in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

In the men's doubles quarterfinals, the sixth-seeded Taiwanese pairing of Lee Yang (李洋) and Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) continued their winning streak on returning to the international circuit by overpowering Teo Ee Yi (張御宇) and Ong Yew Sin (王耀新) of Malaysia 23-21, 21-15.

In the women's singles quarterfinals, it took Tai just 28 minutes to defeat world No. 10 Michelle Li (李文珊) of Canada 21-11, 21-13.

On Thursday, Tai said after winning her previous match in 29 minutes that she is in better shape than at the start of the tournament, her first international event since last March.

The Yonex Thailand Open, which concludes on Sunday and has a total purse of US$1 million, is one of three tournaments organized by the Badminton World Federation in Bangkok.

The Thai capital will then host the Toyota Thailand Open Jan. 19-24 and the rescheduled 2020 World Tour Finals Jan. 27-31.