Mei Kuan-Meng Yean overcome jet lag to halt German pair from advancing
CHOW Mei Kuan and Lee Meng Yean had travelled almost 4,000km on three different flights over 24 hours to get to Nanjing for the World Championships.
But jet lag didn’t stop Mei KuanMeng Yean from getting off to a winning start when they went the distance to beat Germany’s Isabel Herttrich-Carla Nelte 16-21, 21-17, 22-20 at the Youth Olympic Sports Park Arena yesterday.
The world No. 16 left Vladivostok, Russia, early Monday after finishing as runners-up in the Russian Open on Sunday to catch their first flight to Incheon, South Korea.
Then, they resumed their journey from Incheon to Changzhou; Changzhou to Guangzhou; and finally Guangzhou to Nanjing.
“All in all, our total journey took up almost a day. We had to transit three times and one of our flights was delayed for five hours,” said Meng Yean.
“By the time we checked in to the team hotel, it was 5am (Tuesday). It was a long and tiring journey, but I think we’re dealing with the jet lag quite well,” added Mei Kuan, who promised to bounce back from their shaky display.
Mei Kuan-Meng Yean recovered strongly from their opening game loss by cruising to a 20-11 lead, but a lapse of concentration allowed the Germans to reduce the gap to 20-17 before the Malaysians nicked the final point.
In the rubber game, Mei Kuan- Meng Yean enjoyed a good start but struggled to build on it. Despite trailing 5-9, Herttrich-Nelte turned the tide to their favour by racing to lead 19-17 and held a match point at 20-19.
But it was the Malaysian pair who prevailed in the crucial stage as they notched three straight points to set up a last 16 encounter against Indonesian fifth seeds Greysia PoliiApriyani Rahayu today.
Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei’s campaign have come to an end when they suffered their 11th straight defeat to reigning Olympic champions Misaki Matsutomo- Ayaka Takahashi.
They gave the Japanese world No.3 a run for their money before losing 21-12, 19-21, 21-12.
Considering Khe Wei was playing only in her second match since a sixmonth injury layoff, it was still a commendable outing.