(From left) Chong, Kim Chua and Lim with their medals won at the Kizuna Sawasdee Cup held in Pattaya, Thailand.
IT WAS a night of celebrations for senior shuttler Goh Kim Chua who won a gold and a silver medal at the Kizuna Sawasdee Cup in Pattaya, Thailand.
Celebrating his 79th birthday on Nov 23, he topped the Men’s Doubles 150 Combined Age category with partner Chong Yew Chzon after defeating a Thai doubles team with a 31-25 triumph in the final.
“It is definitely a jubilant birthday gift for me.
“My partner and I had a good match against the Thai team which played on home ground.
“We thought it would be a tough fight but we managed to win by a good margin,” he told StarMetro.
Meanwhile, in the Men’s Doubles 75-79 age category, Kim Chua and Penangite Lim Chong Sek earned a silver medal after falling to another Thai pair, 11-31.
“Before the Men’s Doubles 75-79 age category final, my partner had a gruelling Men’s Singles match and he felt exhausted.
“And on the previous day, we had three knockout rounds, totalling six games.
“Overall, we are happy with the result,” Kim Chua said, adding that this was his third time participating in the Sawasdee Cup.
The 12th edition of the Sawasdee Cup attracted 1,900 players from 27 countries, with many Malaysians participating in the amateur tournament last month.
Jestin (left) and Brandt won Silver in the Men’s Doubles 110 Combined Age category.
Several Malaysians also made the country proud by winning in their respective tournaments.
Among the medallists was Bruni Garip, the current BWF World Senior Championship Men’s Singles 70-74 age category champion who defeated all the Thai players in his earlier matches to qualify for the final.
He then sailed through with a 31-20 win over Hong Kong’s Chow Man Ho to secure the gold medal.
Another medallist KT Jestin Mendis won Gold in Mixed Doubles 50-54 age category partnering Cheryl Goh Li Yin.
They defeated the Indian-Thai pair of Anil Srivastava and Rattikorn Saisootorn 31-19 in the final.
Jestin also collected a silver medal in the Men’s Doubles 110 Combined Age category when he partnered with German Thomas Brandt, losing 20-31 to former Indonesian Thomas Cupper Marleve Mainaky and his partner Effendy Widjaja.
“Our toughest match was in the round of 16 when we scraped through 31-29, eliminating the Thai pair,” said Jestin.
“Our final match was intense and nerve-wracking.
“It was our second time facing Marleve and his partner, and the level of play was high.”
Despite the loss, Jestin was jubilant that he and Brandt reached the Men’s Doubles 110 Combined Age category final, out of a strong field of 42 pairs.
Jestin’s target in next year’s Sawasdee Cup is to win two gold medals.
Meanwhile, Cheryl also secured a silver medal in the Women’s Doubles 110 Combined Age category partnering former national player Kok Chan Kong, after narrowly losing 29-31 to a Thai pair in the final.
In the Men’s Singles 55-59 age category, Malaysian Nasrul Asni Muhammad won the gold medal, defeating China’s Hao Ming 31-16 in the final.
Another regular competitor in senior tournaments, Tan Phick Eng, captured the silver medal in Men’s Singles 65-69, losing to a Thai player 21-31 in the final.
