On the right trail
Peng Soon-Liu Ying stay in control to reach NZ Open final
PETALING JAYA: Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying are just a win away from getting their Tokyo Olympic Games qualification bid off to a perfect start.
The world No. 5 have reached the final of the New Zealand Open, the first event that offers points to next year’s Tokyo Games.
Peng Soon-Liu Ying were in their element as they downed Indonesia’s Hafiz Faizal-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja 21-14, 21-18 in Auckland yesterday.
They also got their revenge on the world No. 7 who had beaten them in the Singapore Open quarter-finals three weeks ago.
Peng Soon-Liu Ying will now be eyeing their second title of the season and a career 12th when they take on another Indonesian pair Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti today.
They had earlier picked up the Thailand Masters crown in January.
“One more step to go to our second title. Hopefully we can get the job done and kick off our mission to qualify for Tokyo,” said Peng Soon.
“We’re delighted to come this far. Despite the absence of the world’s top four pairs, we didn’t have it easy at all.
“We needed to be at our best to overcome the likes of HafizGloria and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing.
“Liu Ying and I combined well all week and we must continue doing that in the final.”
They certainly need to bring out their A-game if they want to get the better of world No. 9 Praveen-Melati, whom they have beaten only once in four meetings.
In their last encounter, the Indonesians knocked them out in the last 16 of the China Open last November.
If they win tomorrow, it will be their second time winning the title as they had won it in 2016.
Malaysia’s hopes of another finalist went up in smoke when men’s doubles Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong went down 19-21, 21-18, 21-14 to All-England champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia.
It marked the pairs’ sixth defeat in seven meetings against the two-time world champions.