PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Mohd Faiq Masawi (pic) kept Malaysia’s hopes alive in the boys’ singles in the World Junior Championships after reaching the fourth round.
Faiq had to survive a huge scare against American Garret Tan before narrowly winning 19-21, 21-8, 22-20 in 58 minutes in Nanchang, China, yesterday.
The 18-year-old, who is seeded ninth in the competition, is the country’s last representative left in the boys’ singles after the unseeded Sng Wei Ming and Kong Zhou Swin both fell in the third round.
Wei Ming went down 16-21, 16-21 to Taiwan’s eighth seed Chiang Tzu-chieh while Zhou Swin lost out 11-21, 13-21 to India’s sixth seed Pranay Shettigar.
Faiq will next face the United Arab Emirates’ fifth seeded Bharath Latheesh for a place in the quarter-finals.
National junior head coach Jeffer Rosobin was relieved to see Faiq win but wants him to raise his game in his next match.
“Faiq had a slow start while his opponent was more aggressive. After Faiq made some adjustments, he managed to control the game well and thankfully get the win,” said Jeffer.
“Hopefully, he can play better in the next match and win again.”
Meanwhile, in the girls’ singles, both Ong Xin Yee and Lim Zhi Shin, made it into the fourth round.
Xin Yee pulled off an impressive 21-16, 21-16 win over Thailand’s fifth seed Anyapat Phichitpreechasak to set up a meeting with Taiwan’s Wang Pei-yu.
Zhi Shin swept aside Germany’s Gloria Poluektov 21-8, 21-13 and will take on India’s Aalisha Naik next.
In the mixed doubles, Datu Anif Isaac Datu Asrah-Dania Sofea Zaidi reached the fourth round after a hard-fought 24-22, 21-16 win over Singapore’s Nicholas Zi-Li Zheng Yan.
Taiwan’s Bao Xin-wai-Hsieh Mi-yen stand in the way of Anif-Dania next.
It was the end of the road though for Wee Yee Tern-Nicole Tan and Loh Zi Heng-Clarissa San.
Yee Tern-Nicole lost 19-21, 15-21 to Taiwan’s Chiu Shao-hua-Chen Yan-fei while Zi Heng-Clarissa went down 19-21, 8-21 to Japan’s Shuji Sawada-Aya Tamaki.
