PETALING JAYA: It was smooth sailing for the boys in the Asian Junior badminton championships but the girls took a beating in the opening round of the individual competition at the Likas Indoor Stadium in Kota Kinabalu.
National GP Finals champion Lim Chi Wing led the way in the boys’ singles, delivering a strong performance to beat Japan’s Yu Igarashi 21-14, 16-21, 21-15 in the second round. Chi Wing had a first-round bye.
The fourth-ranked junior in the BA of Malaysia (BAM) set-up, however, faces a daunting task in the third round as he’ll be up against China’s Zhao Junpeng, who upset 13th seed Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong.
Fifth seed Soo Teck Zhi and 12th seed Cheam June Wei also made impressive starts to join Chi Wing in the third round.
The lanky Teck Zhi recovered from a slow start to beat Vietnam’s Hong Nam Pham 23-21, 21-6 while Penangite June Wei dispatched Hong Kong’s Lee Chak Wai 21-15, 21-10.
Top junior shuttler Soong Joo Ven joined the party by thrashing Mahen Anjana Samaranayake of Sri Lanka 21-4, 21-10 while R. Satheishtharan also made the grade.
The only casualty was Vincent Phuah, who lost 10-21, 21-11, 20-22 to South Korea’s Seo Seung-jae.
It was, however, a disastrous day for the girls’ singles department when the top two prospects – Ho Yen Mei and Sylvia Kavita Kumares – crashed out in the first round.
Yen Mei, the national junior champion who inspired the team to a win over Indonesia on Monday, was way below her best as she fell 19-21, 17-21 to South Korea’s Lee Min-ji.
Sylvia was equally disappointing, losing a nail-biting rubber 21-17, 10-21, 14-21 to Indonesia’s Jayanti Intan Dwi.
Lee Zii Yii also fell by the wayside, going down to another Indonesian – Fitriani – 18-21, 21-15, 15-21.
It was left to 15-year-old S. Kisona and Yap Rui Chen to bring some joy to the Malaysian camp when they swiftly overcame their opponents to book passages into the second round.
Earlier, China regained their supremacy in the mixed team event after storming to a 3-1 win over South Korea. China last won the title in 2011.
Chen Qingchen-Huang Kaixiang (mixed doubles), Liu Yuchen-Li Junhui (boys’ doubles) and Qin Jinjing (girls’ singles) delivered the points for China while the Koreans replied through Jeon Hyuk-jin, who briefly levelled the tie at 1-1 by beating Lin Guipu 22-20, 21-17 in the boys’ singles.
“The team have worked hard for the past two years and it paid off handsomely,” said China junior head coach Su Chenghua.
“We suffered a slight drop in terms of quality for the past two years but we came back strongly this year. Hopefully, we’ll win more medals ... but we’ll take it one step at a time.”
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
