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Today, 28 August, the last matches of the individual badminton event at the Asian Games 2018 were played. In the men's singles division, the finals (and semi-finals) were all very exciting.
Round of 32
Not many surprises in the first round (actually the second round, but there was only 1 match in the first round because there were exactly 33 participants).
But not many surprises does not mean no surprises. Everyone was very astonished when Shi Yuqi (China), the first seed of the individual event in men's singles, had been defeated in his first match. Shi Yuqi went home, while Jonatan Christie (Indonesia) continued to the round of 16.
Kidambi Srikanth, the 6th seed and one of India's two chances to win the event, went home too in the first round after having lost from Wong Wing Ki Vincent (Hong Kong). But also Prannoy H.S., India's second chance, has lost his first match and India had to leave the tournament without any satisfaction. India's men had already played badly at the World Championships in Nanjing and now they also fail at the Asian Games.
Round of 16
In the round of 16, almost every favorite won his match and went to the quarter-finals. Jonatan Christie, who sent Shi Yuqi home, won his match. And also all seeds went on to the quarter-finals. Only one seed was not able to reach that quarter-final: second seed and winner of the World Championships 2018: Kento Momota (Japan). Very surprisingly he wasn't able to extend his level of the Worlds to the Asian Games.
Quarter-finals
After Christie's first two victories, he also went on to the semi-finals, having won from Wong Wing Ki Vincent.
Son Wan Ho, second seed and Korea's only chance, was defeated by 8th seed Kenta Nishimoto from Japan.
Fourth seed Chou Tien Chen (Chinese Taipei) won from seventh seed NG Ka Long Angus and assured himself of his place in the semi-finals.
The only surprise in the quarter-finals: China's Chen Long, the fifth seed, was sent home by Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, the second Indonesian to get into the semi-finals.
Semi-finals
The first semi-final (Jonatan Christie - Kenta Nishimoto) was won by Christie. After having defeated Shi Yuqi, he already was one of the favorites. In this match, he confirmed his role and continued his winning mood.
The second semi-final (Chou Tien Chen - Anthony Sinisuka Ginting) was won by Chou Tien Chen, who would play the final against Jonatan Christie.
Final
The final (Chou Tien Chen - Jonatan Christie) was an exciting match. When you look at the seeded entries and the world ranking, you would have expected Chou to win the match, but the head to head-statistics show that all previous matches were won by Christie.
Christie played a good match, like all his matches up to now at the Asian Games, and won against Chou Tien Chen with 21-18, 20-22, 21-15.
The medals
The bronze medals go to Kenta Nishimoto (Japan) and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (Indonesia), the silver medal goes to Chou Tien Chen (Chinese Taipei), and Jonatan Christie from Indonesia goes home with the gold medal (but going home is relative because the Asian Games are in Indonesia).
