Chinese badminton team underwent a disappointing day in singles events, losing medals in an unfamiliar manner at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta on Sunday.
Olympic men's singles champion Chen Long fell to hometown favorite Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-19, 21-11 in 50 minutes in quarterfinals. This was the first time in 16 years for China to miss men's singles medal since the Busan Games.
"My opponent just did better than me. He deserved the victory. In terms of the atmosphere here, it (the loss) was normal," said Chen.
Ginting, who had already eliminated reigning world champion Kento Momota of Japan, will take on Chou Tienchen of Chinese Taipei in semifinals.
Ginting was joined by his compatriot Jonatan Christie in final four, and the Indonesian talent will face Japan's Kenta Nishimoto.
China's Chen Yufei also bowed out from women's singles quarterfinals after losing to Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-19, 21-11.
China failed to snatch a medal in women's singles for the first time since the very start of its participation in the Games 44 years ago.
"I played normal at the start, but later on she found her rhythm, and I lost patience," said Chen, rating her performance at the Games "70-80 points".
Yamaguchi's semifinal opponent will be Indian ace Pusarla V. Sindhu. The other match will be played between world No. 1 Tai Tzuying of Chinese Taipei and Saina Nehwal of India.
But Chinese shuttlers fared differently in doubles events.
Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan displayed their in-form performance and upset world's top-ranked pair Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota of Japan 21-17, 21-8 in women's semifinals.
They will meet another Japanese duo of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi, the Rio Olympics champions, in Monday's final.
Top-seeded Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong tasted a morale-boosting 21-13, 21-18 victory over hosts Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir.
But teammates Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping failed to join them in the final, as the No. 2 seed conceded a match point to falter at 22-20, 19-21, 23-21 against Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong, China.
In men's doubles quarterfinals, world champions Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen breezed past Sachin Dias/Buwaneka Goonethilleka of Sri Lanka 21-12, 21-15.
They are set to face stiff challenge against Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto on the latter's home court.
