PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Wong Ling Ching is close to her long awaited breakthrough in the women’s singles after reaching her maiden international final in the Malaysian International Challenge.
Ling Ching claimed a convincing 21-14, 21-16 win over Taiwan’s Yi En-hsieh in the last four at the Arena Badminton Perak in Ipoh yesterday.
It was joy for the 20-year-old after her run was halted twice in the semi-finals this year in the Estonia International Challenge in January and Mongolia International Challenge in July.
Ling Ching had made it into the final of the National Championships in July where she finished runner up to national No. 1 K. Letshanaa.
The youngster, who is currently ranked 90th in the world, will take on Japanese qualifier Miho Kayama in the final today.
National women’s singles coach K. Yogendran has urged Ling Ching to cap her fine run with the title.
“Ling Ching has been working hard on improving her game. Reaching the final is a morale booster for her,” said Yogendran.
“I hope she will keep up the momentum and achieve a breakthrough in the final tomorrow (today).
There was further joy for the home fans when Fazriq Razif-Wong Vin Sean (men’s doubles), Ng Qi Xuan-Yap Yee (women’s doubles) and Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin (mixed doubles) also joined Ling Ching in their respective finals.
SEMI FINAL RESULTS
(Malaysians unless stated)
Men’s singles: Minoru Koga (Jpn) bt Riki Takei (Jpn) 21-14, 21-17; Takuma Kawamoto (Jpn) bt Lin Kuan-ting (Tpe) 21-18, 21-14.
Men’s doubles: Fazriq Razif-Wong Vin Sean bt Kazuki Shibata-Naoki Yamada (Jpn) 15-21, 21-18, 21-17; Takuto Inoue-Masayuki Onodera (Jpn) bt Lau Yi Sheng-Lee Yi Bo 21-17, 17-21, 21-17.
Women’s singles: Wong Ling Ching bt Yi En-hsieh (Tpe) 21-14, 21-16; Miho Kayama (Jpn) bt Yulia Susanto (Ina) 21-14, 21-10.
Women’s doubles: Ng Qi Xuan-Yap Yee bt Chiu Pin-chian-Tung Ciou-tong (Tpe) 21-16, 21-13; Lin Chih-chun-Sung Yu-hsuan (Tpe) bt Kokona Ishikawa-Mio Konegawa (Jpn) 21-15, 21-19.
Mixed doubles: Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin bt Faris Zaim-Yap Rui Chen 25-27, 21-19, 21-7; Lin Yu-chieh-Hsu Yin-hui (Tpe) bt Wee Yee Hern-Ng Qi Xuan 14-21, 21-18, 21-11.
