Big surprise: Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi toppled China’s Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open.
PETALING JAYA: It was a day when the professional men doubles shuttlers stole the show by toppling giants and turning the Japan Open into a stage for their resurgence.
Old-hands Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi pulled off the biggest shock of the day when they sent China’s top duo Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang packing in the quarter-finals while world No. 1 Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani kept their hopes of defending their title alive by coming out on top over Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian-Shohibul Fikri.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi were over the moon after finally finding the formula to overcome Weikeng-Wang Chang after three defeats to the pair this year.
Hopes were not high on the world No. 30 against the Paris Olympics silver medallists but the independent combo played brilliantly to defy the odds and claim a narrow 25-23, 21-19 victory at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium yesterday.
Yew Sin, who wed former Japanese women’s singles player Aya Ohori last month, looked in inspired form with Ee Yi as the pair reached the last four for the first time this year.
“I’m quite excited about this win. This is a confidence boost to ourselves. This means a lot to us,” said Yew SIn in an interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF) yesterday.
Ee Yi said: “We tried to avoid easy mistakes because we played against Weikeng-Wang Chang a few times and the points were always close.
“So, we tried to be more patient and luckily we could play like how we wanted today (yesterday).
Yew Sin, 30 and Ee Yi, 32 have superbly turned around their form after suffering seven consecutive first round exits this year.
The pair last made it into the last four in the China Open last September.
Even Yew Sin-Ee Yi admitted that even they were surprised by their sensational run in the tourney.
“We were really surprised that we could reach the semi-finals after losing in the first round seven times which is not easy to do,” joked Ee Yi.
“After this, we don’t want to think too much about winning but we just want to really enjoy ourselves and try to take it step by step.”
Yew Sin-Ee Yi though have a tough task next against South Korea’s world No. 3 Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho.
Seung-jae-Won-ho beat another Malaysian pair, world No. 7 Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun 21-13, 18-21, 21-13 to book their spot in the last four.
Meanwhile, Sze Fei-Izzuddin had to survive a huge scare against scratch pairing Fajar-Shohibul before coming away with a hard fought 21-13, 17-21, 22-20 win in 59.
The pair were staring at defeat when they trailed 19-20 in the third game but showed great determination to come back to snatch victory.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin will next take on Taiwan’s Liu Kuang-heng-Yang Po-han, who defeated another Malaysian duo Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub 18-21, 25-23, 21-17.
If both pros win their matches, it will be another all-Malaysian final in men’s doubles, just like how it was at the Malaysian Masters this year when Wei Chong-Kai Wun beat Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik for the title.
There was also joy for Malaysia in the women’s doubles when world No. 3 Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah made it into the last four with a 21-15, 21-19 victory over South Korea’s Jeong Na-eun-Lee Yeon-woo.
Standing in Pearly-Thinaah’s way to the final will be world No. 2 and home favourites Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida.
RESULTS
(Malaysians unless stated)
Quarter-finals
Men’s singles: Koki Watanabe (Jpn) bt Weng Hongyang (Chn) 15-21, 21-15, 21-11; Alex Lanier (Fra) bt Chi Yu-jen (Tpe) 21-16, 21-14; Shi Yuqi (Chn) bt Wang Tzu-wei (Tpe) 21-19, 21-10; Christo Popov (Fra) bt Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) 18-21, 21-13, 21-8.
Men’s doubles: Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi bt Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang (Chn) 25-23, 21-19; Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho (Kor) bt Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun 21-13, 18-21, 21-13; Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani bt Fajar Alfian-Shohibul Fikri (Ina) 21-13, 17-21, 22-20; Liu Kuang-heng-Yang Po-han (Tpe) bt Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub 18-21, 25-23, 21-17.
Women’s singles: An Se-young (Kor) bt Chen Yufei (Chn) 21-16, 21-9; Wang Zhiyi (Chn) bt Putri Kusuma (Ina) 20-22, 21-17, 21-16; Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) 21-15, 24-22; Riko Gunji (Jpn) bt Han Yue (Chn) 21-17, 21-10.
Women’s doubles: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah bt Jeong Na-eun-Lee Yeon-woo (Kor) 21-15, 21-19; Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida (Jpn) bt Kim Hye-jeong-Kong Hee-yong (Kor) 19-21, 21-19, 21-18; Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian (Chn) bt Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor) 21-18, 17-21, 21-15.
Mixed doubles: Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei bt Yuichi Shimogami-Sayaka Hobara (Jpn) 21-14, 21-12; Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) bt Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie 21-13, 23-21; Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) bt Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet (Hkg) 20-22, 21-14, 21-14; Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping (Chn) bt Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito (Jpn) 21-10, 21-9.
