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Sports

Thursday October 22, 2009

Jing Yi relishes chance to exact revenge on Japanese

By LOGANATH VELLOO

MALAYSIA’s top junior singles shuttler Tee Jing Yi has a personal mission in Alor Setar.

The 18-year-old Jing Yi, who will be making her final outing in the championships, is still sore over a defeat by Japan’s Mitani Minatsu in the Asian Juniors mixed team event in Kuala Lumpur in July.

Although Malaysia recovered to beat Japan 3-1 in the semi-final tie, Jing Yi still can’t get over the 17-21, 21-12, 17-21 defeat by Minatsu.

Malaysia went on to bag the team title by upsetting top seeds China 3-1 with Jing Yi delivering a vital point in her match against top Chinese junior Chen Xiaojia.

Japan are drawn in the same group as Malaysia in the Under-19 world championships and the Penangite will get the opportunity to get even on Saturday.

”It was the only time that I had played against her (Minatsu) and the defeat is still in my mind until today,” said Jing Yi.

“Although I recovered from the defeat to deliver a point in the final against China, I am looking forward to set the record straight against the Japanese girl in Alor Setar.”

Besides Malaysia and Japan, the other teams in Group Z are Singapore, France and Cambodia.

Jing Yi feels the tie against Japan holds the key to Malaysia’s qualification to the semi-finals. Only the winners of the four-group preliminaries advance.

“For the moment, we do not want to think about China or the other top countries. We are focused on making it to the semis and Japan are the team to beat,” she said.

The national back-up squad player also prefers to keep her target in the individual event close to her chest. Jing Yi has not enjoyed a good run in singles competitions this year and was beaten 10-21, 13-21 by Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand in the third round of the Asian Juniors.

“After the disappointment in the Asian Juniors, I want to make at least the semi-finals,” she said.

Besides Jing Yi, Malaysia will also be represented in the girls singles by Sonia Cheah, Yang Li Lian and Florah Ng.

The challenges in the boys’ singles will be carried by Iskandar Zulkarnain, Mohd Syawal Ismail, Misbun Ramdan and Zulfadli Zulkifli.

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