Arctic Competition" Zhou Tiancheng lost to Japanese players and his dream of winning three consecutive championships was shattered. Xu Yaqing/Song Youmei defeated the Chinese combination to reach the top 4

Zhou Tiancheng. (File photo, Reuters)

[Reporter Nian Miaoyun/Comprehensive Report] Taiwan's top brother Zhou Tiancheng lost to Japan's Watanabe Kouki 19:21, 16:21 in the men's singles top 8 of the Super 500 Series Arctic Badminton Open today. He stopped in the top 8 and missed his third consecutive victory.

World No. 3 Zhou Tiancheng just finished the Nagoya Asian Games and then went to Europe to compete. He has won the Arctic Games in the past two years and this time he will challenge for three consecutive championships.

In the first round, Zhou Tiancheng won after 3 fierce battles with French player Arnaud Merkle. Yesterday he met this year's Taipei Open champion Yudai Okimoto of Japan and won in straight games. Today he will face Japan's world number 16 Kouki Watanabe. Xiaotian has won 3 games against him in the past, and the results are evenly matched.

Zhou Tiancheng fell into a 1:6 deficit at the start of the first game today, but after 13:18, he forced Watanabe Kouki to make many active mistakes and scored 5 points in a row to tie the game at 18. Unfortunately, he then counterattacked and lost points by going out of bounds, giving up at 19:21.

Zhou Tiancheng fell behind at the start of the second game. Although he once achieved a 1-point lead, this advantage could not be maintained for long and he was overtaken by Watanabe Kouki. Even with his physical strength declining, he was unable to reverse the situation. He eventually lost 16:21 and missed the top four.

In terms of other Taiwan players, Xu Yaqing/Song Youmei defeated the Chinese combination Luo Yi/Wang Tingge 21:19, 21:17 in the women's doubles quarterfinals to advance to the top four.