Zhou Tiancheng lost to Indonesian star Farhan in straight games and stopped in the top 8 of the Asian Games men's singles

Zhou Tiancheng. (File photo, taken by special correspondent Chen Zhiqu)

[Special Correspondent Wu Mengru/Nagoya Report] Taiwan’s top brother Zhou Tiancheng lost in straight two to 21-year-old Indonesian rising star Alwi Farhan in the quarterfinals of the Asian Games badminton men’s singles in Nagoya today. He missed the chance to win a medal. He admitted frankly that the schedule was indeed affected to some extent, but a loss is a loss. “If you are not strong enough, just go back and practice again!”

Zhou Tiancheng, ranked fifth in the world, is in good form this season. He won the China Open Super 1000 series and also won a bronze medal at the World Championships in India last month. However, yesterday he faced a long-lost two matches in one day, one of which was a three-game battle lasting 70 minutes. His physical strength faced a severe test.

Although he had a 3-1 advantage against Farhan before the game, Zhou Tiancheng said that his opponent was too fast and did not give him many offensive opportunities. Unlike the World Championships, which gave him many opportunities to jump to kill the ball, and he was not in the best condition, the game was taken away.

The badminton schedule was not digested until early in the morning yesterday. Zhou Tiancheng also experienced the test of two matches in one day for the first time in a long time. Moreover, because the ball speed is slow, multiple shots back and forth are more laborious, which also has a great impact on physical strength. He bluntly said that the arrangement of the conference is indeed unreasonable. The main reason is to play an extra day in the team competition, but shorten the time of the individual competition. Wrong decisions will also cost the players. "I think it needs to be carefully reviewed."