KUALA LUMPUR: Youngster Ho Yen Mei captured her first international title under the new scoring format at the Malaysian Youth International Championships in Kota Kinabalu.
Yen Mei, who was recently promoted to the national team from Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS), defeated Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 11-10, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8 in 42 minutes on Sunday.
The delighted 18-year-old Yen Mei said she loved the new scoring format.
“It is more exciting to play and the matches do not drag too long although it can get very tense. It suits my game style,” said Yen Mei.
“Under this format, there is no deuce. In the first game, we were tied 10-10. I held my nerves to win it. It was important to win the opening game – as it gave me a lot of confidence.”
It is one of the first tournaments that Malaysia have chosen to use the 11-point best-of-five scoring format.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) have been experimenting with this new system in all lower ranked tournaments since August and they will make a decision at their council meeting in November whether to replace the current 21-point scoring system.
“It is great to win my first international title. I felt good and energetic throughout the match. I have beaten her five months ago in a closely contested 21-point match,” added Yen Mei.
“This time, I had a good idea of her game plan and played much better tactically.”
Yen Mei, who trains under Wong Tat Meng and Rony Agustinus, will be out to enjoy another good outing when she competes in the Vietnam International Challenge next month.
Malaysia also won the boys’ doubles and mixed doubles titles at the Under-19 tournament through Tan Jia Wei-Soh Wooi Yik and Chua Khek Wei-Peck Yen Wei respectively.
Top seed Cheam June Wei failed to make it a grand day for Malaysia when the national top junior went down 11-5, 10-11, 6-11, 4-11 to South Korea’s Seo Seung-jae in just 29 minutes.
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