PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi have a glimmer of hope of qualifying for the Paris Olympics after reaching the German Open semi-finals.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi defeated Taiwan’s Lu Ching-yao-Yang Po-han 21-19, 21-10 in the last eight in Mulheim on Friday to give themselves a fighting chance of making the cut for the Olympics.
The independent pair are currently in 13th spot in the Race to Paris rankings and need to break into the top eight before the qualifying window closes at the end of April to book their spot.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi, who are the top seeds in the tournament will be looking to capture their first title since winning the Thailand Masters in 2020 to give themselves a much needed boost ahead of the higher tier French Open (March 5-10) in Paris and All-England (March 12-17) in Birmingham where the world’s top pairs will be back competing.
The duo though have a tricky task in the last four against China’s world No. 14 He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi are the last Malaysians standing after mixed doubles pairs Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie’s respective campaigns came to an end.
Kian Meng-Pei Jing went down fighting 21-13, 13-21, 11-21 to Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet while Soon Huat-Shevon agonisingly lost out 19-21, 26-28 to Indonesia’s Rehan Naufal-Lisa Ayu. Malaysians onlyMen’s doubles: Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi bt Lu Ching-yao-Yang Po-han (Tpe) 21-19, 21-10.
Mixed doubles: Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet (Hkg) bt Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing 13-21, 21-13, 21-11; Rehan Naufal-Lisa Ayu (Ina) bt Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie 21-19, 28-26.
