PETALING JAYA: Elite shuttler Eogene Ewe has failed an early test but Shaqeem Eiman Shahyar (pic) proved his mettle by reaching the quarter-finals of the Indonesian Masters.
Eogene, who is one of the four chosen under the new Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) elite squad recently, went down 20-22, 13-21 to second seed Alwi Farhan of Indonesia in the third round in Surabaya.
He is one of the singles players earmarked for the new Olympic Games cycle together with Leong Jun Hao, Ng Tze Yong and Justin Hoh.
While the inexperienced Eogene showed he still has some catching up to do, Shaqeem, who left the national team early this year, put up a valiant show to beat Cheng Kai of Taiwan 9-21, 23-21, 21-17 to advance.
The 23-year-old Shaqeem faces Prahdiska Bagas of Indonesia in the last eight today. Prahdiska had earlier ended the run of Cheam June Wei in the second round.
It was also a good day for professional Aidil SholehAli Sadikin who advanced to the quarter-finals yesterday after beating Tsai Cheng-han of Taiwan 21-14, 16-21, 21-17 to set up a meeting against Nguyen Hai Dang of Vietnam.
In the opening day, Aidil , who trains under coach Nova Armada, had upset top seed Kiran George of India 23-21, 21-12 on Wednesday.
In the men’s doubles, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games silver medal winners Tan Wee Kiong and Goh V Shem experienced different fortunes with their respective partners.
Top seeds Wee Kiong and Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayob battled their way to beat Fredy Prasetya-Pulung Ramadhan of Indonesia 21-23, 21-19, 21-11 and will take on another Indonesian pair Muhammad Al Farizi-Nikolaus Joaquin for a place in the semis.
“We are not sure of our next opponents’ strength but we will be ready,” said Wee Kiong.
V Shem and Boon Xin Yuan went down 21-19, 15-21, 17-21 to Raymond Indra-Patra Harapan of Indonesia. If they had won, they would meet fellow Malaysians Bryan Goonting-Mohd Fazriq Razif.
Said V Shem: “My partner is 25 years old, and I’m trying to guide him. I still enjoy the game. We’ve lost here but we will be ready for next week’s Korean Masters.”
The other pair through to the quarter-finals are Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong, who beat Navin Prasanth-Dhileepan Murugan of India 21-14, 21-15. The second seeds face Chiang Chien-wei-Wei Chun-wei of Taiwan next.
In the women’s singles, K. Letshanaa’s sacrifice to skip the Deepavali celebration with her family paid off when she entered the quarter-finals after a 21-15, 21-17 win against Bilgis Prasista of Indonesia.
She will play Chiara Marvella of Indonesia next.
