Stopped in the quarters: Yap Roy King and Valeree Siow in action at the Osaka International Challenge. — BAM
PETALING JAYA: Yap Roy King-Valeree Siow’s hopes of reaching their first semi-final together this year were dashed after the pair went down in the last eight of the Osaka International Challenge.
The national mixed doubles pair, who had also bowed out at the same stage in their last three outings – the Thailand International Challenge, China Masters and Vietnam International Challenge – lost 15-21, 6-21 to Taiwan’s Wu Hsuan-yi-Yang Chu-yun in Osaka yesterday.
It was a double disappointment for both Roy King and Valeree after they were knocked out in the first round of the men’s and women’s doubles with Wan Arif Junaidi and Go Pei Kee respectively.
Arif-Roy King, who had only been paired together last month, had fought hard before narrowly losing 22-20, 18-21, 22-24 to Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa-Kyohei Yamashita in a thrilling tussle.
The agonising defeat was a bitter spill to swallow for the duo, who had reached the last four in Hanoi last week.
Valeree-Pei Kee also went down fighting 21-19, 19-21, 17-21 to Taiwan’s Chen Yan-fei-Sun Liang-ching.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s challenge came to an end after all other representatives also bowed out in the last eight.
In the men’s singles, it was mixed feelings for Justin Hoh, who had broken into the top 60 in the world recently but saw his good run halted after losing 14-21, 21-23 to Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan.
Justin, who turns 19 today, can still afford to celebrate after reaching a career-high No. 59.
In the women’s singles, Cambodia SEA Games-bound Wong Ling Ching experienced a similar defeat when she went down 21-23, 14-21 to Japan’s Shiori Saito.
