BADMINTON/Chou Tien-chen upset in Taipei Open semis, falls short of fifth title

Taipei, Aug. 2 (CNA) Taiwanese badminton star Chou Tien-chen (周天成) was upset in the men's singles semifinals of the BWF World Tour Super 300 Taipei Open on Saturday, ending his bid for a record-extending fifth tournament title.

After winning the title in the top echelon Super 1000 China Open last week, the 36-year-old Chou seemed on course to extend his record given that he was the only player ranked in the top 10 to compete in the lower-tier Taipei event.

The world No. 6 even had two match points against world No. 26 Yudai Okimoto to book a spot in Sunday's final but could not convert and lost to his much younger Japanese opponent 15-21, 21-15, 22-20.

The match turned after the mid-game interval in the second game. With Chou leading 11-7, Okimoto reeled off six straight points, and he was able to level the match as Chou's fatigue began to show and unforced errors crept into his game with increasing frequency.

After the match, Chou credited his 21-year-old opponent's resilience and said he failed to capitalize on key points.

He also acknowledged that fatigue from last week's China Open had affected his performance, but said it was "not an excuse."

Chou's southpaw compatriot Lin Chun-yi (林俊易), who made the semifinals of last week's China Open to improve his world ranking to 12th, was also upset in the men's singles by a much lower-ranked opponent Saturday.

He lost to world No. 71 Yoo Tae Bin of South Korea 21-19, 21-19, despite getting off to an 8-1 lead in the first game.

Yoo soon found his rhythm after his early struggles and took control of the match. He played his best late in each game, winning two of three game points while keeping the 26-year-old Lin from securing any game points of his own.

Following his defeat, Lin attributed his loss to his inability to quickly switch up his play and adjust his tactics in response to what Yoo was doing.

Lin also said he felt that Yoo controlled the pace of the match, and admitted that he felt physically fatigued after playing at a high level the previous week.

After both Lin and Chou bowed out of the tournament, the only Taiwanese competing for a title on Sunday were the mixed doubles team of Yang Po-hsuan (楊博軒) and Hu Ling-fang (胡綾芳).

Seeded second in the Taipei Open, the Taiwanese had not lost a game entering the final but they had lost their only two previous meetings against their opponents in the final, Yuta Watanabe and Maya Taguchi of Japan.

The Japanese prevailed again on Sunday 21-19, 21-8. The first game was tied at 19 when some skillful shot-making by Watanabe earned the Japanese the final two points.

That gave Watanabe and Taguchi the momentum, and they raced to an 11-4 lead in the second game in just six minutes, a deficit the Taiwanese could not overcome.

The two Taiwanese did get a kick out of getting their runner-up medals from Taiwan Sports Minister Lee Yang (李洋), a two-time Olympic badminton gold medalist in men's doubles.

Said Yang: "It was a new experience. In the past, we used to battle against each other on the court, but now he's giving me a medal."