BADMINTON/Chou Tien-chen climbs to No. 4 in BWF world rankings

Taipei, Aug. 25 (CNA) Taiwanese badminton veteran Chou Tien-chen (周天成) rose two places to No. 4 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) men's singles world rankings released Tuesday, following his bronze-medal finish at a tournament in India last week.

The 36-year-old Chou advanced to the semifinals of the BWF World Championships in New Delhi, where he lost to Japan's Kodai Naraoka, earning a bronze medal and 10,500 ranking points. After the points were added to total ranking points, Chou climbed to No. 4 with 86,580 points.

The reshuffle also saw former world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China drop to No. 6 after being eliminated in the first round of the championships and losing a significant number of ranking points.

Despite being ranked No. 4, Chou is less than 1,051 points behind new world No. 1 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia and could challenge for the top spot at the BWF China Masters, a World Tour Super 750 event, which begins Sept. 1.

"The world ranking is just a result. What matters is the effort and the process throughout the competitions," Chou told CNA.

"I believe that as long as I do what I need to do, good results will naturally follow, so I don't pay too much attention to the ranking," he explained.

The Taiwanese shuttler, who is also active in charity work, was scheduled to leave Tuesday for Lyudao Primary School on Green Island to conduct a badminton coaching session for its team.

However, due to the recent unstable weather, Chou joked, "I'll keep an eye on the weather. If I can't make it back to Taiwan in time, I won't have to go to the China tournament."