Malaysian Men's Doubles Pair Stun Indonesian World No 7 To Reach Denmark Open Semis

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 (Bernama) -- Malaysian men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani stunned Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto, who recently helped Indonesia lift the Thomas Cup, in straight games to cruise into the Denmark Open semi-finals Friday. World number 26 Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin tore the formbook to shreds by upstaging the world number seven Indonesians 21-18, 21-17 in 34 minutes in the quarter-finals at the Odense Sports Park. This is also their first win in four meetings against the Indonesians, who played their part to help Indonesia lift the Thomas Cup after a 19-year wait in Aarhus, Denmark last week. In Saturday's semi-final, Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin will take on the winner of the tie between Indonesia’s Muhammad Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana and Danes Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. Malaysia’s challenge in the mixed doubles fizzled out after national number two Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing went down fighting 21-19, 12-21, 14-21 to fourth seeds and Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino of Japan in an intense one hour and 32-minute quarter-final battle. -- BERNAMA