Mixed doubles shuttlers Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie booked their spot in the semi-final of the World Tour Finals after fighting hard to beat Indonesia's Dejan Ferdinansyah-Gloria Emanuelle 17-21, 21-15, 21-14 in their last Group B match in Hangzhou on Friday (Dec 13).
PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles shuttlers Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie secured another spot for Malaysia in the final four of the World Tour Finals.
World No. 10 Soon Huat-Shevon needed a win in their last Group B match to reach the semi-finals and did not disappoint when they fought hard to beat Indonesia's world No. 13 Dejan Ferdinansyah-Gloria Emanuelle 17-21, 21-15, 21-14 in Hangzhou on Friday (Dec 13).
Earlier, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei had booked their semi-final spot by virtue of being the group champions. It's the first time that Malaysia have two mixed pairs in the semis in the history of the tournament.
Shevon was thrilled after booking her last four ticket with Soon Huat.
"We are definitely very happy as we never thought we will make it this far," said Shevon in a post match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
"Looking at the draw initially, we knew we had a chance but we did not want to put too much expectations on ourselves as all the pairs are strong.
"This means a lot to us as we we did not have a good start in the tournament."
On Soon Huat, who had to seek treatment for an injury sustained during the match immediately after, Shevon said: "He dived and hurt his rib. I salute him. His will to keep going is the strongest I've seen."
Soon Huat-Shevon lost in three games to Tang Jie-Ee Wei in their first group match but came back strongly to beat Japan's Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito.
Meanwhile, Tang Jie-Ee Wei maintained their 100% record and finished top of the group in the tournament with a 21-17, 21-18 victory over Midorikawa-Saito.
The world No. 8 pair have made it into the semi-finals for the first time after they did not get past the group stage last year.
