Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/19
By: Luke Sabatier

Taipei, July 19 (CNA) Taiwan's Chou Tien-chen (周天成) needed a second consecutive marathon battle Friday to remain alive in the men's singles of one of the top badminton tournaments of the year, the Indonesia Open 2019.

The world No. 3, who is seeded fourth in Jakarta, needed 1 hour and 16 minutes — an eternity in badminton — to oust two-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion Lin Dan (林丹) of China in a second-round match Thursday, and he found himself in another epic battle a day later.

Facing sixth-seeded Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, to whom he had lost six of the seven matches they had played, Chou appeared headed for defeat again, dropping the first game 21-16 and falling behind 16-12 in the second game after Christie went on a 9-2 run.

But Chou steeled himself and ran off the next six points to take an 18-16 lead, and held on to even the match.    [FULL  STORY]