Stretched to the Lim-it
Chi Wing shows fighting spirit of a champion to reach final
ULU KINTA: Lim Chi Wing stole the hearts of the fans with his fighting spirit to reach the men’s singles final again at the National Badminton Championships.
Yesterday, the 21-year-old defending champion fought valiantly to beat former international Liew Daren 17-21, 21-11, 30-29 in a pulsating 88-minute match at the Sri Perdana Hall.
Chi Wing will face 2012 champion Misbun Ramdan Misbun for the title today.
Ramdan, 26, also had to go through three games to beat Chong Yee Han 21-9, 27-29, 21-11 in the other semi-final.
“I’m still in a dream run here. I’ve not played Chi Wing before but I’ll be prepared. My dad (Datuk Misbun Sidek) told me to go out there and enjoy the game. That’s exactly what I intend to do,” said Ramdan, who only returned to court this year after recovering from two operations on his ruptured Achilles tendon in 2015.
Chi Wing nearly never made it to his second straight final. He was on the brink of defeat after falling behind 10-17 in the decider.
But he fought back to level at 18-18.
The match could have ended earlier if Chi Wing had taken his chances as he surged to the front at 21-20. But he fumbled to let Daren lead at 22-21.
From then onwards, it was a dingdong battle. But credit to Chi Wing as he pulled off a few incredible shots, saving nine match points before scoring a remarkable comeback win.
Chi Wing was wearing a big smile after the energy-sapping win.
“I’ve never been involved in a match this long ... it was a good experience,” said Chi Wing.
“Daren played well and waited for the right moment to attack. He put so much pressure on me.
“My coach Hendrawan shouted at me not to give up when I was trailing 10-17. I didn’t. I’ve played one of my best matches.
“Hopefully I’ll recover quickly for the final as I want to retain the title.”
Hendrawan was proud of Chi Wing’s performance.
“He defeated Chong Wei Feng en route to winning the national title last year. This time, he beat Daren. Chi Wing has improved and he handled the pressure very well today,” said the Indonesian former world champion.