Cliffhangers
Men’s doubles pairs show tenacity with stunning wins over Danes
Men’s doubles shuttlers Goh V Shem-Tan Wee KiongandOngYew Sin-Teo Ee Yi showed nerves of steel to reach the quarter-finals of the China Open after stunning victories over their mighty Danish opponents.
KUALA LUMPUR: Doubles shuttlers Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong and Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi pulled through spectacular cliffhangers against Denmark opponents to make it a glorious day for Malaysia in the China Open.
Independent shuttlers V ShemWee Kiong battled for one hour and 11 minutes to beat Mathias BoeMads-Conrad Petersen 21-13, 22-24, 27-25 to reach the quarter-finals at the Olympic Sports Centre Xincheng in Changzhou yesterday.
They take on top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia next – a pair they have struggled to beat for the longest time. Their only win in their last five meetings against the Indonesians was at the 2015 Swiss Open.
Said V Shem: “The match certainly went down to the wire. There were some lucky shots but we did not give up until the end.”
“It’s good that Wee Kiong and I
are able to finish off our opponents, usually, we’ll fight hard and lose the crucial points. This time, we hung in there.
“We hope to play another great match tomorrow (today).
Unseeded Yew Sin-Ee Yi were also equally impressive yesterday when they laboured for one hour and 14 minutes to upstage eighth seeds Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 21-18, 14-21, 25-23.
They play the winners of the match between Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen of China and Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pangkaryanira-Ade
Yusuf Santoso of Indonesia.
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaching director Wong Choong Hann was happy that Yew Sin-Ee yi ended well in the decider.
“The match could have gone either way but our players fought hard to win it. We hope they will keep it up,” said Choong Hann.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi were not expected to go far as the focus had been on the All-England runners-up Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik but the latter had crashed out earlier in the first round.
“It’s good to see one pair stepping up when another is down. We just have to fight for every opportunity given. When one pair win, it’s a win for all.”
Unfortunately, there was no double joy for Malaysia in the mixed doubles when Goh Soon HuatShevon Lai Jemie made it to the quarter-finals but world No. 5 Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying failed to follow suit after crashing out 21-17, 21-23, 18-21 to Indonesians Tontowi Ahmad-Winny Oktavina Kandow.
Soon Huat-Shevon slogged for one hour and 10 minutes to pull off a hard-fought 18-21, 21-17, 22-20 win over Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith of England to set up a mouth-watering clash against fourth seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand.
They were beaten by the Thais in the final of the KL SEA Games in 2017.
“Soon Huat and I are just coming back after my partner’s injury. Our next opponents are strong but we promise to give a good fight,” said Shevon.