PETALING JAYA: National men’s singles shuttler Justin Hoh staged a gutsy fightback to book his place in the second round of the Asian Championships in Ningbo, China.
Justin, who came through the qualifying rounds, appeared nervous at first in his opening-round clash against South Korea’s Jeon Hyeok-jin. But the Kuala Lumpur-born shuttler kept his focus, stuck to his game plan and battled back to secure a dramatic 14-21, 22-20, 21-16 win.
The 20-year-old now faces a far tougher challenge in the second round, where he will take on second seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, who earlier defeated Japan’s Koki Watanabe.
It was a different story for his teammate Ng Tze Yong, who found the going tough in his long-awaited return to competitive action after a year-long injury layoff.
Still cautious in his movement, Tze Yong was unable to match the pace and precision of 2023 world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn, going down 9-21, 12-21 in 44 minutes.
There was also disappointment in the women’s doubles, as Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah fell short in a hard-fought battle against South Korea’s world No. 10 pair, Kong Hee-yong-Kim Hye-jong.
The Malaysians fought valiantly but were edged out 19-21, 26-28 in a nail-biting contest.
