NANJING: Independent shuttler Liew Daren puts up a great fight to power his way to the men’s singles semi-finals at the World Championships.
Daren fought tooth and nail to beat Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama 22-20, 21-23, 22-20 in an energy sapping one hour and twenty minutes match in a tensed quarter-finals at the Youth Olympic Games Sports Park Arena in Nanjing on Friday.
At one point, he was lying on court grimacing in pain while holding his right ankle in the second game. But when he was back on his feet, he neither gave up or slowed down but fought for every point to beat a gritty Tsuneyama for one of his famous wins in his career.
It has been a fairy tale run for Daren at this world meet - having had dumped world No. 5 K. Srikanth of India a day ago.
Daren will play the winner of the match between Kento Momota of Japan and B. Sai Praneeth of India in the semi-finals.
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