Malaysia's Goh V Shem (right) with Tan Wee Kiong against Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia during the second round of Malaysian Master's Badminton championship at Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil yesterday.the Malaysian pair won 21-19,24-22.(17/01/2019/S.S.KANESAN/The Star)
KUALA LUMPUR: Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong's bold decision to resurrect their career by leaving the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) is paying off as their impressive run of form continues.
First they ended a two-year title drought by winning the Thailand Masters last week, a feat they could not achieve while they were with the national team.
On Thursday (Jan 17), V Shem-Wee Kiong accomplished another 'first', this time claiming their first win over two-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan.
After losing four times to the Indonesians since 2015, they finally won 21-19, 24-22, to storm into the last eight of the Perodua Malaysian Masters.
V Shem-Wee Kiong will be seeking to extend their seven-match unbeaten run this year when they face world No. 5 Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe of Japan today.
V Shem-Wee Kiong are bidding to reach their second straight final in the tournament.
"We really enjoyed the win today, We played them (Hendra-Ahsan) four times and lost all four previously," said Wee Kiong.
"Our confidence is high right now. We are hoping to reach the final again this year and see if we can go one better."
V Shem said the credit still goes to their former coach Paulus Firman for their superb run.
"We were able to win the Thailand Masters last week and continue do well this week thanks to Paulus," he said.
"The credit goes to him considering we have just left the national outfit not long ago."
It was a fantastic day for the hosts as Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi made it three Malaysian pairs in the quarter-finals.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi beat Denmark's David Daugaard-Frederik Sogaard 21-13, 14-21, 21-10, in the last match of the day.
Lee Zii Jia, Liew Daren and Goh Jin Wei are the other three players to feature in today's quarter-finals.
In the men's singles competition, Zii Jia booked his spot in the last eight with a superb 21-15, 21-17 win over world No. 9 and last year's runner-up Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.
Having missed out on a potential clash against world No. 1 Kento Momota, the world No. 37 now looks forward to taking on defending champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.
Earlier, Daren whipped unheralded Victor Svendsen 21-18, 21-7 to set up a last eight meeting against world No. 2 Shi Yuqi.
National top women's singles Jin Wei picked up where she left off in her stunning victory over Japan's Akane Yamaguchi, this by thrashing China's Zhang Yiman 21-13, 21-10.
She will be looking to make it three wins on the trot against China's world No. 7 He Bingjiao.
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