KUALA LUMPUR: There was joy for boys’ singles shuttler Soo Teck Zhi but only misery for top junior Soong Joo Ven on a day when Malaysia suffered huge losses in the Asian Junior Championships in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
Yesterday, Teck Zhi of Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) was the only singles shuttler left standing when he crushed China’s Zhao Junpeng 21-15, 21-12 in 26 minutes to march into the semi-finals. But the fifth-seeded Teck Zhi has a tall order to make the final as he’ll be up against top seed Thammasin Sittikom of Thailand in the last four.
While Teck Zhi sizzled to keep the Malaysian flag flying, the fancied and second-seeded Joo Ven’s challenge came to a premature end when he went down fighting 23-21, 17-21, 11-21 to South Korean Jin Jeok-hyuk in one hour and 11 minutes.
Hopes were high on top junior Joo Ven to become the country’s second Asian junior champion after Zulfadli Zulkifli in 2011. But Joo Ven failed to pull it off despite reaching the final last year before losing to Kento Momota of Japan.
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