Taiwan opponent in Justin’s way as he eyes second title of the year

PETALING JAYA: National men’s singles shuttler Justin Hoh is one step away from claiming his second title of the year at the Northern Marianas Open.

The 20-year-old defeated Taiwan’s Tsai Cheng-han 21-8, 21-15 in just 31 minutes in the semi-finals at the Oleai Sports Complex in Saipan yesterday. It was his second win against Chen-han after beating him at the 2022 world juniors.

He will play against another Taiwanese Cheng Kai next.

Fifth seed Justin won his first title this year at the Slovenian Open in May.

Last year, Justin had won the Uganda International in February but ruptured his Achilles tendon two months later, which left him sidelined for eight months.

Meanwhile, the journey in Saipan ended for women’s singles shuttler Arena Satu Samin, who crashed out in the semi-finals.

Arena fell 7-21, 19-21 to Japan’s Sakura Masuki in the semi-finals yesterday.

RESULTS

Semi-finals

Men’s singles: Justin Hoh (Mas) bt Tsai Cheng-han (Tpe) 21-8, 21-15; Cheng Kai (Tpe) bt Joel Koh (Sin) 21-9, 23-21.

Men’s doubles: Takumi Nomura-Yuichi Shimogami (Jpn) bt Tori Aizawa-Daisuke Sano (Jpn) 21-17, 21-11; Mahiro Kaneko-Shunya Ota (Jpn) bt An Yun-seong-Park Kyung-hoon (Kor) 15-21, 21-19, 21-17.

Women’s singles: Sakura Masuki (Jpn) bt Arena Satu Samin (Mas) 21-7, 21-19; Kaoru Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Akari Kurihara (Jpn) 21-16, 21-14.

Women’s doubles: Miki Kanehiro-Rui Kiyama (Jpn) bt Mihane Endo-Mei Sudo (Jpn) 21-19, 21-7; Mizuki Otake-Miyu Takahashi (Jpn) bt Kim Hye-jeong-Kim Yu-jung (Kor) 21-12, 21-16.

Mixed doubles: Yuichi Shimogami-Sayaka Hobara (Jpn) bt Kota Ogawa-Misaki Kurashima (Jpn) 21-13, 15-21, 21-15; Tori Aizawa-Hina Osawa (Jpn) bt An Yun-seong-Kim Hye-jeong (Kor) 21-15, 21-17.