No clean sweep for Malaysians
clean sweep did not happen as the national shuttlers won two titles of the five finals at the Celcom Axiata Malaysia International Challenge yesterday.
But still it was a commendable show by the national badminton team.
In the opening all-Malaysian women’s doubles final, experience made the difference as top seeds Soong Fie Cho-Tee Jing Yi beat younger teammates Lim Chiew Sien-Tan Sueh Jeou 21-13, 21-10.
In the women’s singles final, former world junior runner-up Lee Ying Ying could not end her title drought, when she bowed out 21-10, 22-24, 21-14 to China’s youngster Wang Zhiyi.
Ying Ying, who knew that a win could have secured her place in next month’s Uber Cup squad, lamented: “It was really unfortunate. It wasn’t like I was completely bad, but I made some errors in the third game that proved costly.”
Since clinching the Romanian International Series title in 2016, Ying Ying has reached seven finals, playing second fiddle in all of them.
In the men’s singles final, Tan Jia Wei went down 21-18, 21-19 to Taiwan’s Hsueh Hsuan Yi.
The men’s doubles final, however, drew the loudest cheer at the Juara Stadium as Malaysia’s Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, despite losing, took the fight to former world champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia, before going down 21-17, 17-21, 21-19.
In the mixed doubles, Chen Tang JiePeck Yen Wei defeated Indonesia’s Andika Ramadiansyah-Mychelle Crhystine Bandaso 12-21, 23-21, 21-13.