A low point for Tien-chen as he is robbed at Hylo

PETALING JAYA: The Hylo Open came to a close as Taiwan’s world No. 4 Chou Tien-chen (pic) felt he was robbed of his second title of the year after a controversial decision handed the match to Indo-nesia’s Anthony Ginting.

The scored in the deciding game was tied at 22-22 when Tien-chen picked up a drop from Ginting but umpire Henrik Boas ruled that the shuttle had already hit the court.

Despite Tien-chen’s request to see the video replay, the umpire stuck to his decision and the score stood at 23-22. Rattled, Tien Chen then lost the match 21-18, 11-21, 22-24 in Saarbrucken, Germany on Sunday.

The replays suggested that Tien-chen returned the shuttle before it hit the ground but replays are not accepted as a Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) referral system.

“I know I cannot change the situation but I hope there is rule change to avoid situations like this in future. There should be a better system to review situations such as racquet crossing the net while hitting the shuttle and incidents like this,” said a visibly upset Tien-chen.

While Tien-chen missed his chance to add the Hylo Open crown to the Taiwan Open he won in July, Ginting secured his second title after the Singapore Open success.

Ginting is the second men’s singles player to win more than one title on the BWF world tour with world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark is the runaway leader with seven titles so far this year.