Taiwan's Chou Tien-chien knocked out of Malaysia Open quarterfinals

Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) Taiwan badminton ace Chou Tien-chen (周天成) was knocked out of the Malaysia Open after losing to his Chinese opponent in the men's singles quarterfinals on Friday.

Ranked world No. 9 in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings, Chou lost 16-21, 21-19, 17-21 to Chinese world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) in a match that lasted 76 minutes at the Stadium Axiata Areana in Kuala Lumpur.

In a tightly contested opener, the score was tied at 10-10 at one point when Shi pulled ahead with six consecutive points and remained in the lead to take the first game.

Although trailing 13-18 in the second game, the 35-year-old Taiwanese dug deep and fought back to tie the match 1-1.

In the decider, Chou started well and took an early 6-2 lead, but his opponent found an extra gear, drawing level and then forging ahead to win the match 2-1.

The defeat marks Chou's fourth consecutive loss to Shi, the last one being in the semifinals of the BWF World Tour Finals in December last year.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese shuttler Chi Yu-jen (戚又仁) was also defeated on Friday, losing 21-14, 13-21, 7-21 against Li Shifeng (李詩灃) of China in the men's singles quarterfinals at the Malaysia Open.

On the same day, Taiwanese players Yang Po-suan (楊博軒), Hu Ling-fang (胡綾芳), Hung En-tzu (洪恩慈) and Hsieh Pei-shan (謝沛珊) all lost to their respective Chinese opponents in the mixed doubles and women's doubles quarterfinals.

The Malaysia Open, a BWF World Tour Super 1000 event, is being held from Jan. 7-12.