BADMINTON/Chou Tien-chen advances to India Open quarterfinals

Taipei, Jan. 16 (CNA) World No. 9 badminton player Chou Tien-chen (周天成) on Thursday defeated Chinese shuttler Lu Guangzu (陸光祖) to advance to the men's singles quarterfinals at the India Open.

Chou beat the World No. 19 Chinese athlete 21-15, 13-21, 21-14 in a three-game match at the round of 16 lasting an hour and seven minutes.

The Taiwanese ace took control of the match early on, leading the first game 11-6 before the game entered its break.

Chou then closed out the first game 21-15, surrendering only 9 points to Lu following a brief respite.

In the second game, Chou failed to capitalize on a 4-0 early lead and lost to Lu 13-21 after losing his momentum.

The first half of the final game saw the two shuttlers go neck and neck in scoring where neither player gave the other a chance to lead by more than two points.

After the game was tied at 10-10, however, Chou picked up his pace and scored three consecutive points.

The Taiwanese ace then kept up the lead and left the Chinese shuttler trailing behind before the game ended 21-14 in favor of Chou to win the match.

The Thursday match was the ninth time Chou has faced off against Lu.

Throughout the years, Chou won six out of the duo's eight previous matches, making his win on Thursday the seventh career victory over his Chinese counterpart.

Chou was pitted against Lu after defeating World No. 30 Canadian shuttler Brian Yang (楊燦) in the first round of the annual Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 750 event, which is being held in New Delhi from Jan. 14-19.

Chou will next face off against Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu (李卓耀) in the quarterfinals.

His Thursday achievement was also the second time Chou advanced to the quarterfinals in two weeks, after he made it to the same round at the BWF World Tour Super 1000 Malaysia Open a week before in Kuala Lumpur.

Aside from Chou, Taiwan's Lin Chun-yi (林俊易) and Su Li-yang (蘇力揚) will also be playing later Thursday to represent the nation in the men's singles.