KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — Malaysia’s representation in the men’s doubles competition of the 2023 All England Badminton Championships came to an early end when professional doubles pair Ong Yew Sin – Teo Ee Yi lost to Indonesia’s defending champions Muhammad Shohibul Fikri – Bagas Maulana, tonight.
Yew Sin – Ee Yi, the eighth seeds, lost 18 – 21, 18 – 21 in straight sets that lasted for 44 minutes at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
The 12th seeded Shohibul – Bagas, will face fellow Indonesians Fajar Alfian – Muhammad Rian Ardianto or Taiwan’s Lee Jhe Huei-Yang Po Hsuan in the quarterfinals tomorrow.
The country’s professional Mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng – Lai Pei Jing were also shown the exit in the second round after going down to Japan’s Yuki Kaneko – Misaki Matsutomo 12 – 21, 21 – 11, 19 – 21.
Yuki – Misaki will now face China’s top seeds Zheng Si Wei – Huang Ya Qiong in the quarterfinals tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the country’s rising star Ng Tze Yong marked his debut in the All England Badminton Championships by pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament, beating defending champion and current world number one Viktor Exelsen from Denmark 21-15, 9-21, 23-21 in three nail-biting sets.
Tze Yong, 22, stunned the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medallist 21-15 in the first set but the Dane came back strongly to clinch the second set 21-9.
However, the Malaysian youngster held his nerve to start the deciding set on the right footing, and stayed in front for most of the set but towards the final few points, he was overcome by nerves and stumbled all over the court while Victor picked up point after point and even held match point on two occasions but both times Tze Yong managed to pull the rug from under the Dane’s feet.
At one point, Tze Yong was looking like a worn out warrior but still had a little gas in the tank to clinch the biggest win of his career.
Tze Yong will now face China’s Li Shi Feng in the quarterfinals tomorrow.
— Bernama
