Pearly-Ee Wei show true grit after storming into semis
PETALING JAYA: Pearly Tan Koong Le’s hopes of competing in the Asian Junior individual championships was hanging by a thread after injuring her ankle three months ago.
But yesterday, Pearly showed the injury was a thing of the past when she stormed into the girls’ doubles semi-finals with Toh Ee Wei for the first time at the Jaya Raya Sport Hall Training Centre in Jakarta.
The third seeds rose to the occasion to blow away Metya Inayah Cindiani-Febby Valencia Dwijayanti of Indonesia 21-6, 21-18 in 33 minutes to set up a meeting with a stronger local pair – second seeds Agatha Imanuela-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti for a place in the final.
Ee Wei was delighted with Pearly’s fighting spirit.
“Pearly was out of action for two months because of an ankle injury. She rested well and worked hard to recover from the injury quickly,” said Ee Wei.
“We trained together only for one month before this Asian junior meet. It’s great that we’ve made it to the semi-finals for the first time.
“Pearly was down when she got injured and I used to cheer her up. At this junior meet, she played true to her form.
“We supported one another on court today and played a good attacking game. Pearly and I have gone a step better than our quarter-finals finish last year.
Ee Wei hoped to keep the Malaysian flag flying high but admitted Agatha-Siti Fadia would be the favourites in the semi-final today.
“It’ll be one of the toughest matches. The Indonesians have the home advantage. Pearly and I have the confidence but we must raise our game one notch higher,” she said.
The Dutch Junior Open champions lost to Agatha- Siti Fadia at the Jaya Raya International Junior tournament in Indonesia in April last year but made amends within a year by beating the same pair at the Shera- Roza- Bty Junior International tournament in April.
Ee Wei and Pearly are the only Malaysian players left in the tournament following the defeats of Ng Tze Yong and Chang Yee JunChoong Hon Jian in the boys’ singles and doubles events respectively.
Tze Yong went down fighting 14-21, 19-21 to Indonesian Ikhsan Leonardo Rumbay in the quarter- finals and with his defeat, Malaysia failed to defend the boys’ singles title won by Leong Jun Hao last year.
It was also all over in the boys’ doubles when Yee Jun-Hon Jian ran out of gas againstGh if ari Anandaffa PrihardikaPramudya Ku sum award anaRiy an to of Indonesia.
The duo went down 21-17, 21-9 in just 28 minutes.