Good news as Kisona wins Sydney International.
Kisona steadily stamping her mark after returning from injury
PETALING JAYA: Women’s singles shuttler S. Kisona continued her remarkable comeback from injury by winning the Sydney International for her second title in as many months.
The 20-year-old made short work of Shiori Ebihara of Japan with a 21-18, 21-13 win in the women’s singles final that lasted just 36 minutes at the Sydney Olympic Park yesterday.
Kisona was playing in only her seventh tournament this year after she was sidelined with a knee injury in last November.
She won the Hellas Open in Greece last month and made it to the semi-finals of the Malaysian International Series in June and the Bulgarian Open last month.
“Although it’s just another satellite-level tournament victory, it still means a lot to me. I cherish every title that I win,” said the world No. 149 Kisona.
“The recent results are clearly showing that I’m trending in the right direction. It’s been tough, to be honest, because the fear of aggravating the injury is always there.
“To stay injury-free itself is a blessing, hopefully, it stays the same as I’m really eager to build on the progress I’ve made in the past months.”
With the fine form so far, Kisona has put herself as the perfect candidate to replace Goh Jin Wei in the women’s singles event at the Philippines SEA Games from Nov 30-Dec 11 if the latter is deemed unfit to compete in the Games.
Jin Wei remains doubtful for her gold medal defence bid as she is not 100% fit after returning to training following her stomach ailment.
National No. 1 Soniia Cheah, who finished runner-up to Jin Wei at the Kuala Lumpur Games two years ago, is assured of filling up one of the two places in the individual event, leaving either Kisona or Lee Ying Ying to fill up the other spot.
“I’m not sure what’s in store at the SEA Games, but I’m always ready for any possibility. I do not fear taking up a big challenge,” said Kisona.
Lim Chong King and Pearly Tan Koong Le-M. Thinaah failed to add more joy to the Malaysian camp after losing in their respective men’s singles and women’s doubles finals.
Hellas Open winner Chong King let slip a good chance of adding a second title to his name when he was outclassed 8-21, 15-21 by Japan’s Yusuke Onodera.
“Yusuke was simply too fast for me, it was so tough to play against him,” lamented Chong King.
Last week’s Australia International champion Ng Tze Yong and Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin were also in action but they failed to clear the last 16.
Pearly-Thinaah’s hopes of winning a second title after their Malaysian International Series triumph went up in smoke after they went down fighting to Taiwan’s Cheng Yu-chieh-Tseng Yu-chi 17-21, 21-17, 13-21.