PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles pair Loh Zi Heng-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan earned sweet revenge in just five months to secure at least a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships.
On Friday (Oct 17), top seeds Zi Heng-Noraqilah lived up to their top billing by beating Ikhsan Lintang-Rinjani Kwinnara of Indonesia 15-10, 15-8 in just 25 minutes to storm into the semi-finals at the National Centre of Excellence in Guwahati, India.
It was a satisfying payback for the Malaysians, who had lost to the same Indonesian pair in the quarter-finals of the individual event at the Asian Junior Championships in July.
They will next face Hung Bing-yu-Chou Yun-an of Taiwan for a place in the final. The Taiwanese pair were in fine form as they defeated Bhavya Chhabra-Vishakha Toppo of India 15-9, 15-7.
En route to the quarter-finals, Zi Heng-Noraqilah had also taken out two Chinese pairs — Feng Yilang-Zhang Jiahan (fourth round) and Wei Jianzhen-Liang Yuen (third round).
The individual competition is being played under the 15 x 3 scoring format.
Earlier, Tan Zhi Yang-Nicole Tan had lost 15-17, 16-14, 6-15 to Lee Hyeong-woo-Cheon Hye-in of South Korea in another hard-fought quarter-final match.
Meanwhile, Ayu Fu Sheng's challenge came to an end after he went down 9-15, 9-15 to Richie Duta Richardo of Indonesia in the boys' singles quarter-finals.
