Wei Sheng blows chance to make history

IT was so close but yet so far for Loh Wei Sheng yesterday.

He blew away a great chance to become the first Malaysian to win the boys’ singles title in the Asian junior championships at the Juara Stadium in Bukit Kiara – going down 14-21, 21-17, 21-16 to China’s Huang Yuxiang in the final.

He took the first game in explosive fashion and sparked off a great hope when he played confidently to lead 15-12 in the second game.

But when it mattered most, he failed to hold off a fiery comeback from Yuxiang and allowed the Chinese to level the score at 17-17.

The crowd was hoping for Wei Sheng to recover from the onslaught but he did not. Instead, the fired-up Yuxiang forced a rubber game by winning five consecutive points.

And that did the damage for Wei Sheng as he could not stop a Yuxiang in the deciding game and Malaysia had to settle for the boys’ singles silver for the third time.

Malaysia have never won the title since the tournament’s inception in 1997 and their two other runners-up were Mohd Arif Abdul Latif in 2007 and Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin last year.

Wei Sheng was disappointed that he failed to nail an elusive title for the country.

“I am a bit down for missing this chance to win a title for Malaysia. I tried...,” said a dejected Wei Sheng. “The turning point was in the second game. He suddenly changed the speed of the game when I was leading and that broke my rhythm.

“It was difficult to stop him once he was more confident of his game. I played well but there were some silly mistakes too.”

However, Wei Sheng said that his breakthrough performances in the Asian Juniors had given him a lot of confidence.

“Now I have the self-belief that I can go far in my career. I will prepare hard. I want to go to the final and win the title for Malaysia at the World Junior Championships (in Mexico next month),” he said.

Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) singles coach Wong Tat Meng said that having to watch his player lose after coming so close was painful.

“Wei Sheng was leading in the second game. Probably due to the lack of experience and the lack of tournaments, he was unable to hold off his opponent,” said Tat Meng.

“It is difficult to take the defeat in this manner but I know that Wei Sheng gave his all today. He gave away some easy points like sending the service to the net twice. But we will work on this.

“I am happy that the outing here has given him a lot of confidence.

“He had no good result to show previously. Now he has to learn to have better match temperament and this will help him raise his level of play at the World Juniors.”