A 22-year-old rising player made a surprise run to the men's singles final at Taiwan's national badminton ranking tournament before losing a tight three-game match.

• Huang Yu of Cooperative Bank came through qualifying and became the tournament's biggest dark horse.
• He upset the top seed Lee Chia-hao and third seed Liao Cho-fu on his way to the final.
• In the final he pushed veteran star Wang Tzu-wei to three games before falling short.
• Wang, a teammate who has known him since high school, praised his fast, early strokes that can catch opponents off guard.

Outlook: Wang expects the young player to keep improving, though experience still gives the older stars an edge for now.