Chinese Taipei have their first Thomas Cup medal.

It was at the expense of second seeds Denmark that Chinese Taipei achieved their history-making feat, the 3-1 result giving them a semifinal against Indonesia.

The charge was led by Chou Tien Chen, whose inspirational performance up front against nemesis Viktor Axelsen struck a blow from which Denmark struggled to recover. The veteran was caught up in a gruelling 68-minute battle with the world No.1, and somehow took his aching 34-year-old body across the line, with his clever use of service variations helping him gain the edge.

“He’s the best player in the world, I always thought he can come back, said an exhausted Chou. “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. Tthat was the key.

“It’s always three games for me, but I don’t want to play three games any more!”

Olympic champions Wang Chi-Lin and Lee Yang were aware of the weight of history when they took on Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. The Chinese Taipei pair blazed away to a 21-14 21-15 win over the Danes in just 37 minutes, never easing their foot off the pedal and converting every opportunity they got.

It was all going Chinese Taipei’s way when Lin Chun-Yi unleashed his big smashes against Anders Antonsen to run away with the first game, but Antonsen recovered ground by pegging down his opponent to his own tempo. Antonsen’s 72-minute win now meant Denmark had a foot in the door; it was up to Rasmus Kjaer/Frederik Sogaard to force their way back in.

They had their chances, but against the fire of the in-form Lee Jhe-Huei/Yang Po-Hsuan, it needed only a marginal shift in momentum for the Chinese Taipei pair to seize the moment. Lee/Yang were razor-sharp at the death, shutting the Danes out of the contest and ensuring Chinese Taipei’s first-ever medal at the Thomas Cup.

In the other quarterfinal of the same half, Indonesia beat Korea 3-1, with scratch pair Fajar Alfian/Daniel Marthin taking them safely through.

What They Said

“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. 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.” – Viktor Axelsen

“We really want to get the medal. But on court we just need to calm down and focus on each shot. It’s history for Chinese Taipei if we win a medal, so we want to make it. Concentration was the key. We’ve never had a medal in Thomas Cup or Sudirman Cup so we want to make history, and we want to take this opportunity.” – Wang Chi-Lin

“They put a lot of pressure on us today. You could already feel that in the first match that it’s going to be tough,  Viktor against Chou, they’re fighting with everything they’ve got.” – Kim Astrup

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