PETALING JAYA: Fatigue due to back-to-back matches proved too much for the national junior players to handle as they failed to enter the final of the mixed team event in the Asian Junior Championships yesterday.
Malaysia could not find the strength to overpower China as they fell 1-3 in the semi-finals in Yogyakarta yesterday.
Boy’s doubles pair Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing were up first and they fought valiantly to beat Hu Keyuan-Lin Xiangyi 26-24, 25-23 to get the first point for the team.
It was then Ong Xin Yee’s turn in the girls’ singles, but she could not match the energy brought by Xu Wenjing, who took 39 minutes to win 21-15, 21-13.
China were forced to field Wang Zijun in the boy’s singles, following the devastating news of Zhang Zhijie’s passing on Sunday.
The 17-year-old Zhijie had collapsed on court during China’s final group stage match against Japan, while he was playing against Kazuma Kazano.
Zijun stepped up well for his fallen comrade as he made quick work of Malaysia’s Roslie Razeeq Danial to win 21-17, 21-19 in 26 minutes.
Malaysia’s hope rested on girl’s doubles duo Nicole Chau-Carmen Ting to level the score but they went down tamely 12-21, 9-21 to Chen Fanshutian-Liu Jia Yue.
Fitness surely played a role for the team as their semi-final meeting with China came just an hour after a hard-fought comeback against India in the quarter-final, clawing their way back from being down 0-2 to win 3-2.
Khai Xing worked the hardest as he had played three games, with his total game time amounting to over two hours on court.
“I’m happy because I could overcome the tiredness of playing three matches in a day,” said Khai Xing.
“After the quarter-finals, we just had a quick shower in the hotel and immediately came back to prepare to play against China.
“We only rested for about an hour so it was a miracle to get the first point against China,” added the 18-year-old.
RESULTS
Quarter-finals
Malaysia bt India 3-2 (Kang Khai Xing-Noraqilah Maisarah Ramdan lost to Sanskar Saraswat-Shravani Walekar 16-21, 21-13, 17-21; Siti Zulaika Azmi lost to Tanvi Sharma 15-21, 21-15, 20-22; Mohd Faiq Masawi bt Pranay Shettigar 15-21, 21-18, 21-19; Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting bt Navya Kanderi-Shravani Walekar 21-16, 21-15; Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing bt Bhargav Ram-Mohd Arsh 21-18, 21-10); Indonesia bt Japan 3-0; China bt Taiwan 3-0; South Korea bt United Arab Emirates 3-0.
Semi-finals
China bt Malaysia 3-1 (Hu Keyuan-Lin Xiangyi lost to Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing 24-26, 23-25; Xu Wenjing bt Ong Xin Yee 21-15, 21-13; Wang Zijun bt Roslie Razeeq Danial 21-17, 21-9; Chen Fanshutian-Liu Jiayue bt Nicole Chau-Carmen Ting 21-12, 21-9); South Korea bt Indonesia 3-1.
