History maker: Denmark's Viktor Axelsen, left congratulates Taiwan's Chou Tien-chen after losing his match in the quarter-final tie of the Thomas Cup Finals held in Chengdu. - AP Photo.
CHENGDU: Taiwan created history by reaching their first ever semi-finals in the Thomas Cup Finals after knocking out favourites Denmark.
World No. 14 Chou Tien-chen inspired his team with a stunning 21-19, 14-21, 21-19 victory over world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen in the first singles at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center in Chengdu yesterday.
“He’s the best player in the world, I always thought he can come back, said an exhausted Tien-chen as stated in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website.
“I tried to focus on what he could do. My teammates were cheering for me, I knew I needed to win this one for them. So I kept up my speed in the final few points. I didn’t know what was going on, the shuttle kept coming back.
“I think he has a lot of different strategies. So I tried to stay one step ahead, so I kept doing something different, like changing my service, so I could change the rhythm. That was the key.. t’s always three games for me, but I don’t want to play three games any more!.
Axelsen was angry at himself.
“I tried to stay composed but it didn’t work that well. I think it was a tight match, really high intensity. Chou played a great match, he deserved to win for sure. I’m of course disappointed," said Axelsen.
"In the first game I should have taken advantage of the big lead I had in the first game. I took my foot off the pedal – that was really inexperienced of me – again, full credit to Chou. That’s how it is. I feel really angry right now, to be honest.”
Buoyed by the huge win, reigning Olympic champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin then doubled Taiwan’s advantage by coming out on top over Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-14, 21-15 in the first doubles.
In the second singles, Anders Antonsen gave Denmark some hope after pulling off a hard-fought 14-21, 21-10, 21-14 win over Lin Chun-yi.
Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan though ensured the win for Taiwan by staying cool to beat Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard 23-21, 21-18 in the second doubles.
Taiwan will next face 14-time champions Indonesia in the last four after the latter ousted South Korea 3-1.
