PETALING JAYA: Ng Tze Yong (pic) spurned a good opportunity to reach the semi-finals of the Thailand Open.
The national men’s singles shuttler held a 11-6 and 11-5 lead in the first and second games respectively in his last-eight match against Hong Kong’s world No. 17 Lee Cheuk Yiu but could not hold on and narrowly lost out 19-21, 21-23 at the Huamark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok yesterday.
World No. 24 Tze Yong also held match point at 21-20 but failed to convert his chance.
It was a frustrating end to the tournament for the 23-year-old, who had stunned Taiwan’s world No. 7 Chou Tien-chen a day earlier.It was the 23-year-old’s second consecutive loss to Cheuk Yiu after suffering the same fate in the first round of the Asian Championships in April.
In a further blow, Malaysia’s challenge in the tournament is over after Leong Jun Hao also fell 19-21, 11-21 to India’s Lakshya Sen in another quarter-final match.
World No. 65 Jun Hao did well to stay close to world No. 23 Lakshya in the first game but could not finish well.
In the second game, the Indian took control to come away with the win.
Jun Hao can still walk tall after reaching the last eight in a World Tour competition for only the second time after the Orleans Masters in April.
The 23-year-old also came through two qualifying rounds and had toppled Thailand’s world No. 30 Sitthikom Thammasin and Frenchman Christo Popov (No. 36) en-route to the quarter-finals.
