SEOUL: China’s badminton world No 1 Shi Yuqi continued his indifferent run of form with a quarterfinal loss to Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk-yiu at the Korea Open today.
Shi ended double Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen’s 131-week reign at the top of the rankings in June but the Chinese player has struggled to consolidate his position in recent weeks.
He lost in the quarterfinals at the Paris Games before being ousted in the semifinals of last week’s Japan Open by French teenager Alex Lanier.
Shi went down 21-13, 21-15 to world No 17 Lee in South Korea.
The 28-year-old Shi has won four tournaments on badminton’s world tour this year.
Denmark’s Axelsen is not competing at the Korea Open.