Pain and gain
Soon Huat-Shevon to shoulder Malaysia’s great hope at All-England
Goh Soon Huat defied pain in his shoulder to stage a great fightback with Shevon Lai Jemie as they stormed into the mixed doubles semi-finals of the All-England. The world No. 14 came from behind to pull off a spectacular win over world no. 2 Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping of China 13-21, 22-20, 21-18 in a battle that lasted 63 minutes at the Arena Birmingham. Soon Huat appeared to have sprained his right shoulder in the rubber game while returning a smash. He requested for medical assistance and within a few minutes, he was back on court to resume his combination with Shevon for the memorable win.
PETALING JAYA: Not even a shoulder pain could stop Goh Soon Huat from staging a great fightback together with Shevon Lai Jemie as they stormed into the mixed doubles semi-finals at the All-England.
The world No. 14 came from behind to pull off a spectacular win over world no. 2 Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping of China 13-21, 22-20, 21-18 in a closely-fought battle that lasted for 63 minutes at the Arena Birmingham yesterday.
It was Soon Huat-Shevon’s third triumph over their Chinese rivals as they extended their head-to-head record to 3-1 but the win yesterday was extra special as it was achieved under unfavourable circumstances.
In the rubber game, Soon Huat appeared to have sprained his right shoulder while returning a smash that went out, which allowed Yilyu-Dongping reduce the deficit to 7-6.
Soon Huat requested for medical assistance and the Malaysian camp were anxious but within a few minutes, he was back on the court.
And to the delight of Malaysian fans, the pain did not seem to be a bother as Soon Huat and Shevon gained momentum to open up a three-point cushion at 14-11.
Victory then appeared likely for Soon Huat-Shevon as they continued to play confidently. At 18-15, Shevon raised eyebrows by superbly blocking Yilyu’s powerful smash, resulting in the shuttle rolling over the net to the opponents’ court.
Yilyu-Dongping, however, did not give up and fought on spiritedly, reducing the lead to 19-17 but Soon Huat-Shevon held on steadily to seal their first All-England semi-final appearance and second lastfour spot in as many weeks -they were also semi-finalists at the German Open last week.
Soon Huat-Shevon, whose All-England debut last year ended with a first-round exit, will take on defending champions Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino of Japan next. It will be the two pairs’ first meeting.
It will be tricky though as Watanabe-Higashino have been in their element since training under former Malaysian doubles coach Jeremy Gan.
Soon Huat-Shevon are Malaysia’s last pair standing in the mixed doubles event following the exit of world No. 5 Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying, who went down 15-21, 21-16, 21-23 to Tontowi Ahmad-Winny Oktavina Kandow of Indonesia in the second round on Thursday.