Downcast Iskandar contemplating on his future

SHUTTLER Iskanddar Zulkarnain Zainuddin will mull over his future after crashing out in the meen’s quarter-finals at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.

The 26-year-old Iskandar went down 21- 16, 17- 21, 18- 21 to Vietnamese veteran Nguyen Tien Minh in 69 minutes – much to the dismay of the home fans – yesterday.

With his defeat, Malaysia’s challenge in the men’s singles is over.

This is a disaster compared to the 1-2 finish by Malaysia at Singapore 2015 through Chong Wei Feng (gold) and Mohd Arif Abdul Latif (silver).

Iskandar was visibly disappointed as no matter how hard he tried, he failed to get the better of a 34-year-old who is not even in fulltime training.

“I may take a break and look at my future in badminton,” said Iskandar, who has been affected by a back injury for most of this year.

“" I’ve worked so hard since coming out of my injury last one month but I can’t even clear the quarter-finals.

“It’s difficult to accept this loss. Expectations were high on me at these Games. I’ll have to discuss with my coaches and see what’s next. I need to clear my mind.”

Even Tien Minh was surprised by Iskandar’s exit.

“He didn’t play his game. He led several times and I really thought that the game was his for the taking. But he started to give away easy points.

“I’m a lucky man today,” said Tien Minh, who will face top seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the last four today.

The other Malaysian casualties yesterday were Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (men’s doubles) and Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean (women’s doubles).

Malaysia’s hopes of achieving their two-gold target in badminton now rest on the shoulders of Goh Jin Wei, Soniia Cheah (women’s singles); Teo Ee Yi-Ong Yew Sin (men’s doubles); Vivian HooWoong Khe Wei (women’s doubles); and Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See and Goh Soon HuatShevon Lai Jemie (mixed doubles).

Jin Wei will face Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong next while Sonia will take on surprise semi- finalist Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia.

Gregoria upset world No. 12 and defending champion Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand.

Jin Wei, though, remained cautious of her chances after beating Fitriani Fitriani of Indonesia 13-21, 21-15, 21-12 in a match that saw her struggling in the first game.

“I made a lot of mistakes. I can’t play like this in the semis.

“It’ll be tough but I’ll be ready,” said the 17-year-old Jin Wei, who hopes to go one step better in her second SEA Games after losing in the semi-finals at Singapore 2015.