Flexpro Zeal win thrilling encounter

Xin Ru reaching for the shuttle with Tai keeping a close watch on the action.

LEAGUE favourites Team Flexpro Zeal outplayed Team Volt in gutsy fashion to clinch a 3-2 victory in the Modesliga Badminton League (Kepong Zone) held at Powerful Sports Arena in Kepong, recently.

Starting with the mixed doubles, Allan Tai and Teng Xin Ru from Flexpro Zeal sailed through the first set 21-15 but suffered a scare in the second set when Volt pair Law Yew Thien and Deana Marcella Lim took a commanding 7-1 lead.

With several hard smashes by Tai from the back of the court, Flexpro managed to close the gap to 8-5 but failed to overturn the deficit and went down 17-21.

Tai and Teng regained their composure in the third and decisive set, before going on to secure the match 21-15.

Volt duo Tan (right) and Au have slight miscommunication while going for the shuttle, resulting in Tan having to take evasive action.

Afterwards, Teng said she was nervous “but glad” that they made it through.

“Our skills were evenly matched and I felt that we had a fifty-fifty chance of winning this one,” she added.

“For every set, I would try to keep the shuttle low so that the opponents would push it to the back for Tai to smash,” said the 26-year-old lass, who is a former state player fromMalacca.

The contest had another close match on the cards when the Flexpro veteran pair of Chua Ken Sheng and Wong Keng Lian were quick to snatch the first set over Volt duo Au Kah Keong and Tan Chung Kiat, winning 21-17. However, the latter pair hit back with a 20-22 victory in the second set but then went down in the third set as Chua-Wong won 21-18.

With this, Flexpro led 2-0 and piled the pressure on Volt.

Ken Sheng goes for a return while partner Keng Lian looks on attentively. 

Eleven participating teams are in the league, which is divided into two groups and categories — men’s doubles Open, mixed doubles, veteran men’s doubles and junior veteran men’s doubles – all played on a round robin basis.

The top four teams from each group will proceed to the quarter-finals where they will compete in a best-of-five knockout round.

Flexpro went on to claim one of the men’s doubles open category but fell to Volt in the junior veteran men’s doubles category and another men’s doubles open.

The match put Flexpro Zeal at the top of Group A of the league, leading with 16 wins and 4 loses.

The league final will take place on April 26 after the semi-finals match up on April 12.

Tournament director Teddy Tan said the league had received encouraging response from the public .

Left- handed Yew Thien sends the shuttle back with Deana looking on.

“There will be three other zones for the Modesliga league namely Cheras, Klang and Subang zone.

“The champions and first-runners up of each zones will compete in the Modesliga Champions League in November with RM8,000 of cash prizes as well as Flexpro products worth RM5,000 up for grab,” he said.

Flexpro is the title sponsor, Revive and Vico are the official beverages while SKG World and VCS AV Connection Sdn Bhd are the main sponsors of the league.

Other sponsors include QQ (M) Sdn Bhd, Ultimate Achievers as well as Powerful Sports Arena.