Haikal on track to win a double in Haarlem

PETALING JAYA: Doubles shuttler Mohd Haikal Nazri is on the brink of emulating former world No. 1 Tan Boon Heong’s feat as a double winner at the Dutch Junior International.

The 17-year-old Haikal smashed his way into the boys and mixed doubles finals at the Degiro Badminton Hall in Haarlem yesterday.

In the mixed doubles semi-finals, Haikal and partner Low Yeen Yuan dumped top seeds and world No. 4 Sirawit Sothon-Pornnicha-Suwatnodom of Thailand with a convincing 21-16,21-14 win in 32 minutes.

He was equally impressive in the boys’ doubles semi-finals, when together with Wan Arif Wan Junaidi, they continued their remarkable run by defeating Koreans Jin Yong-Kim Jae-hyon 21-17,21-19 in 35 minutes.

The duo had earlier upset top seeds Sirawit-Tanadon Punpanich of Thailand in the second round on Friday.

Arif-Haikal face Muhammad Rayhan Nur Fadillah-Rahmat Hidayat next and will be out to avenge their teammates Justin Hoh-Fazriq Razif’s second round defeat to the Indonesians in the title match.

If Haikal succeeds in scooping both titles, he will repeat Boon Heong’s achievement in 2005 where the latter won the boys’ doubles with Mohd Arif Abdul Latif and the mixed doubles with Julia Wong Pei Xian.

In the boys’ singles, Jacky Kok Jing Hong’ hopes of becoming the first Malaysian winner since Lee Zii Jia in 2016 was dashed after he fell 20-22,13-21 to South Korea’s Jin Yong in the semi-finals.

World champions Lin Dan and Chen Jin of China had also emerged victorious in the tournament that was founded in 1988. Lin Dan won in 2001 and Chen Jin succeeded a year later.

RESULTS

(Matches involving Malaysians only)

SEMI-FINALS

Boys’ singles: Jin Yong (Kor) bt Jacky Kok Jing Hong (Mas) 22-20,21-13.

Boys’ doubles: Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Mohd Haikal Nazri (Mas) bt Jin Yong-Kim Jae-hyon (Kor) 21-18,21-12.

Mixed doubles: Mohd Haikal Nazri-Low Yeen Yuan (Mas) bt Sirawit Sothon-Pornnicha Suwatnodom (Tha) 21-16,21-14.

QUARTER-FINALS

Boys’ singles: Jacky Kok Jing Hong (Mas) bt Georgii Lebedev (Rus) 21-10,21-9.

Boys’ doubles: Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Mohd Haikal Nazri (Mas) bt Sacha Leveque-Aymeric Tores (Fra) 21-19,14-21,21-16.

Mixed doubles: Mohd Haikal Nazri-Low Yeen Yuan (Mas) bt Lee Hak-joo-Yoo A-yeon (Kor) 21-18,21-18.

LAST 16

Boy’s singles: Jacky Kok Jing Hong (Mas) bt Alvi Wijaya Chairullah (Ina) 21-15,21-19.

Boys’ doubles: Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Mohd Haikal Nazri (Mas) bt Shuta Machida-Yudai Nagafuchi (Jpn) 21-13,21-15.

Girls’ doubles: Kim Min-sol-Yoo A-yeon (Kor) bt Low Yeen Yuan-Valeree Siow (Mas) 21-16,23-21; Choi Hye-jin-Le So-yul (Kor) bt Khor Jing Wen-Tan Zhing Yi (Mas) 18-21,21-10,21-11.

Mixed doubles: Lee Hak-joo-Yoo A-yeon (Kor) bt Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Cheng Su Hui (Mas) 21-17,21-11; Mohd Haikal-Low Yeen Yuan (Mas) bt Andy Buijk-Jaymie Laurens (Ned) 21-7,14-21,25-23.