Taiwanese badminton ace advances to quarter-finals at German Open

Taipei, Taiwanese badminton ace Chou Tien-chen defeated Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu in a tense one hour, three minute match Thursday to clinch a slot in the men's singles quarter-finals of the YONEX German Open 2019.

Chou took on the world No. 36 Lee for the second time in his career, starting the opening set with a 6-0 run, but a 7-1 and 3-1 burst from Lee put him back into the driver's seat, and he took the set with a score of 21-17.

Chou regained his composure and won the second set 21-16.

In the final set, Lee took the lead with an initial score of 5-4, but Chou refused to give up and answered with a 6-0 rally to take the set 21-8 and move into the quarter-finals.

Chou will face the world No. 28, Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in his next match. The two have played each other three times before, in which Chou only won once.

In their latest encounter at the Indonesia Masters 2019 last month, Chou was defeated by Lee in two straight sets.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese mixed doubles Wang Chi-lin and Cheng Chi-ya also entered the quarter-finals, making them the only Taiwanese players to make it through to the next round aside from Chou.

The tournament carries a purse of US$150,000.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel