Third seeds Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi on their way back from a game down in the men’s doubles at the World Tour finals in Bangkok today. (Badminton Association of Malaysia pic)
KUALA LUMPUR: Two Malaysian professional pairs rose to the occasion to seal their spots in the last four of the Badminton World Federation World Tour Finals in Bangkok, Thailand, today.
Third seeds Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi staged a magnificent fightback from a game down in the men’s doubles to stun Indonesian top seeds Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto 10-21, 21-17, 21-19 in their last Group A match at the Nimibutr Arena.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi topped the group with two wins while Fajar-Muhammad Rian, who also recorded two wins, settled for second place after losing to the Malaysians.
In the mixed doubles, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing had to slog for a 21-17, 22-20 win over Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand.
It was the Malaysian pair’s second win in Group B, making them runners-up behind Thai second seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai, who have three wins.
The draw for the semi-finals is expected to be held after the last match of the day tonight.
Another national independent pair, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie had to concede a walkover to top seeds Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong of China after Soon Huat suffered an injury before their final Group A match today.
In women’s doubles, national pairs Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah and Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sen ended their campaign with a whimper after falling to their third straight group losses.
The unseeded Pearly-Thinaah succumbed 19-21, 22-20, 9-21 to China’s second-seeded Zhang Shu Xian-Zheng Yu in Group B while Vivian-Chiew Sen went down 10-21, 17-21 to Thailand’s Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai in 37 minutes in Group A.