PETALING JAYA: Low Zi Yu teams up with a new partner Genevie Lim and still came out tops in the Asian Junior Mixed Team Championship.
Zi Yu, 16, won both her matches with Genevie in the tie against Indonesia as Malaysia emerged Group D champions at the Yatsushiro City General Gymnasium in Japan.
Zi Yu is playing with Genevie as her regular partner Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan, who is not eligible for the Asian junior meet, is competing in the National Under-21 tournament.
Yesterday, the national junior team led by Zi Yu had to go the distance to beat their archrivals 55-51, 49-55, 55-48 under the 55x3 relay scoring system.
Boys’ doubles pair Damien Ling-Irfan Shazmir started with a narrow 11-10 win over Indonesia’s Rizki Mubarrok-Raihan Pramono, but the girls’ duo Genevie-Zi Yu extended the lead to 22-15 against Selsi Josika-Aurelia Putri.
Singles player Carine Tee then defeated Mayla Pratiwi in the girls event to make it 33-27, and Ahmad Redzuan-Zi Yu opened up the gap to 44-36 with win over Raihan-Atresia Candani.
Boys’ singles shuttler Kong Wei Xiang then delivered the first point for Malaysia after he made it 55-51 against Radithya Wardhana.
In the second tie, Indonesia turned the tables to level the score by winning 55-49 with wins coming from Mayla, Raihan-Atresia and Fardhan Rainanda Joe.
Redzuan-Isyraf Hafizin started strong with a 11-9 win over Rizki-Raihan, before Genevie-Zi Yu beat Halifia Pratiwi-Aurelia to make it 22-18.
The turning point came after Carine fell to Mayla and Malaysia trailed 31-33.
Mixed doubles pair Raihan-Atresia then beat Redzuan-Zi Yu by another two points, before Fardhan Rainanda Joe sealed Indonesia’s win by six points.
In the deciding tie, Malaysia kept their momentum on their side as Damien-Irfan beat Rizki-Raihan 11-9, followed by Genevie-Zi Yu making it 22-17 against Halifa-Aurelia.
Carine avenged her earlier loss by beating Mayla 33-32, before Redzuan-Zi Yu gave the team a cushion with a 44-40 win over Raihan-Atresia.
Wei Xiang then stepped up to deliver the winning point for Malaysia by making it 55-48 against Fardhan and cementing their spot at the top of the group.
Malaysia and Indonesia advance to the last eight by virtue of finishing first and second in the group.
