Taiwanese shuttler Chou Tien-chen (???) advanced to the semifinals of the men’s singles at the Indonesia Masters in Jakarta after outdueling Lakshya Sen of India on Friday.

The world No. 4 from Taiwan took down the rising Indian badminton star 21-16, 12-21, 21-14 in a quarterfinal match that lasted more than an hour on court 1 at Istora Stadium.

It was Chou’s second straight victory against Sen in less than a month. He defeated the Indian player in a three-game thriller during the Thomas Cup last month in their only previous meeting.

Third-seeded Chou faces eighth seed Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the semifinal.

Back at the match on Friday, Chou powered ahead to pocket the opening game, before Sen bounced back to level after winning the second game.

However, 32-year-old Chou put 20-year-old Sen under early pressure in the decisive third game, with a power-packed show that saw him clinch the match 2 games to 1.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese Olympic gold medalists Lee Yang (??) and Wang Chi-lin (???) were knocked out of the tournament at the quarterfinal stage Friday.

The third seeds Lee and Wang were defeated by the fifth seed pairing of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in straight sets 21-15, 21-18 in 45 minutes.

While Lee and Wang have only competed in the Thomas Cup, the Thailand Open, and the Indonesia Masters this year, they had a very good year in 2021, when they won Taiwan’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in badminton at the Tokyo Games.

They also clinched the men’s doubles title at two Super 1000 Thailand Open tournaments in Bangkok in January 2021 and the BWF World Tour Finals the same month.

In December 2021, the Badminton World Federation named them the most improved players of the year.

The Super 500 Indonesia Masters event, held June 7-12, carries a total purse of US$360,000 (NT$10.67 million).

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel