National junior shuttler Aaron Tai
PETALING JAYA: Shuttlers Bryan Goonting-Aaron Tai are assured of a medal in the boys’ doubles in the World Junior Championships.
The pair showed great fighting spirit and determination to come from behind to beat Japan’s Kosuke Kakuta-Kaito Sugawara 12-21, 21-17, 21-16 in a thrilling quarter-final clash in Spokane, Washington, on Friday.
Bryan-Aaron, who are guaranteed at least a bronze medal by virtue of reaching the semi-finals, will face Taiwan’s Lai Po-yu-Tsai Fu-cheng in the last four.
Bryan-Aaron have ended Malaysia’s dry spell in the boys’ doubles since Teo Ee Yi-Nelson Heg won gold in 2011 in Taiwan.
There was further joy for Malaysia when mixed doubles pair Low Han Chen-Chong Jie Yu also made it into the semi-finals after a superb 21-18, 21-16 victory over Indonesia’s Adrian Pratama-Felisha Alberta.
Han Chen-Jie Yu, though, have an uphill task against top seeds Zhu Yijun-Huang Kexin of China next.
As for the mixed doubles, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei were the last Malaysians to step on the podium before this when they bagged bronze in 2016 in Bilbao.
Malaysia last won medals in the world junior meet through Goh Jin Wei (girls’ singles) and Pearly Tan-Toh Ee Wei (girls’ doubles) when they captured gold and silver respectively in the 2018 edition in Markham, Canada.
Meanwhile, it was the end of the road for Mohd Faiq Masawi after he went down 10-21, 21-16, 2-21 in the boys’ singles to China’s reigning Asian champion Hu Zhean.
In the girls’ doubles, Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting also exited after losing 13-21, 14-21 to Japan’s Maya Taguchi-Aya Tamaki.
RESULTS
(Malaysians unless stated)
Quarter-finals
Boys’ singles: Hu Zhean (Chn) bt Mohd Faiq Masawi 21-10, 16-21, 21-2; Ayush Shetty (Ind) bt Yudai Okimoto (Jpn) 21-16, 21-17; Alex Lanier (Fra) bt Zhang Ning 21-13, 21-15; Alwi Farhan (Ina) bt Wang Zijun (Chn) 21-19, 21-18.
Boys’ doubles: Bryan Goonting-Aaron Tai bt Kosuke Kakuta-Kaito Sugawara (Jpn) 12-21, 21-17, 21-16; Lai Po-yu-Tsai Fu-cheng (Tpe) bt Xu Huayu-Zhang Lejian (Chn) 21-12, 16-21, 21-16; Ma Shang-Zhu Yijun (Chn) bt Mohd Al Farizi-Nikolaus Joaquin (Ina) 15-21, 21-17, 21-14; Huang Jui-hsuan-Huang Tsung-I (Tpe) bt Chen Yongrui-Hu Keyuan (Chn) 21-18, 16-21, 21-9.
Girls’ singles: Chiara Marvella (Ina) bt Tomoko Miyazaki (Jpn) 21-14, 18-21, 22-20; Huang Linran (Chn) bt Gianna Stiglich (Ita) 21-16, 21-14; Xu Wenjing (Chn) bt Tara Shah (Ind) 21-17, 21-6; Pitchamon Opatniputh (Tha) bt Mihane Endo (Jpn) 21-17, 21-13.
Girls’ doubles: Maya Taguchi-Aya Tamaki (Jpn) bt Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting 21-13, 21-14; Mei Sudo-Nao Yamakita (Jpn) bt Li Huozhou-Zhang Yuhan (Chn) 21-18, 21-19; Francesca Corbett-Allison Lee (US) bt Yi En-hsieh-Lin Yu-hao (Tpe) 17-21, 21-17, 21-17; Ririna Hiramoto-Riko Kiyose (Jpn) bt Chen Shutian-Zhang Wenxiao (Chn) 21-16, 21-16.
Mixed doubles: Low Han Chen-Chong Jie Yu bt Adrian Pratama-Felisha Alberta (Ina) 21-18, 21-16; Zhu Yijun-Huang Kexin (Chn) bt Otto Reiler-Amanda Peterson (Den) 21-9, 21-15; Liao Pin-yin-Zhang Jiahan (Chn) bt Mike Vestergaard-Sofia Rojkjaer (Den) 21-12, 21-13; Jonathan Farrell-Priskila Venus (Ina) bt Kenta Matsukawa-Nao Yamakita (Jpn) 21-13, 21-13.
