BWF US Open: Chou Tien-chen to face compatriot Huang Yu-kai in first round

Taipei, June 23 (CNA) The BWF Super 300 US Open badminton tournament kicked off today, with 24 Taiwanese pairs starting in the main draw. "Ace" Chou Tien-chen, participating for the second consecutive year, will face compatriot Huang Yu-kai in the first round.

The BWF Super 300 US Open, with a total prize money of US$250,000 (approximately NT$7.9 million), has been held in Fullerton, Los Angeles since its inception in 1954.

Taiwanese players have a good track record in this tournament, having won a total of 17 championships, with the men's singles and men's doubles each securing 4 titles, including last year's men's doubles victory by Lai Po-yu and Tseng Po-hsuan.

In this tournament, only World No. 6 Chou Tien-chen and World No. 14 Indian ace Lakshya Sen, ranked 15th in the BWF men's singles world rankings, are participating. They are seeded No. 1 and No. 2 respectively.

Chou Tien-chen also participated last year, eventually reaching the semifinals. He told CNA, "This year, I chose to participate to better adapt to the environment, climate, and transportation routes in the United States, allowing me to prepare in advance for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics."

Taiwanese players have won the men's singles title in this tournament 4 times, including Feng Chen (who transferred from Indonesia to Taiwan) in 1998, Chien Yu-hsiu in 2003, Hsieh Yu-hsing in 2005, and Lin Chun-yi in 2019.

The defending Taiwanese men's doubles pair, Lai Po-yu and Tseng Po-hsuan, will face Japanese partners Shuntaro Mezaki and Yuta Ota in the first round. Lai Po-yu and Tseng Po-hsuan have participated in 5 Super 300 or higher level tournaments this year, with 3 of them exiting in the first round.

Meanwhile, another Taiwanese men's doubles new pair, the "Kuan-Kuang Combination" of Chen Cheng-kuan and Liu Kuang-heng, will have to start from the qualifying rounds due to their insufficient world rankings. Fortunately, only one win is needed in the men's doubles qualifying rounds to advance to the main draw. (Edited by Chang Ya-ching) 1150623

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