Two Malaysian Pairs March Into Semis Of Indonesia International Challenge

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- Two Malaysian men's doubles pairs advanced to the semifinals of the Indonesia International Challenge Badminton Tournament after defeating their respective opponents at the Gelora USM Semarang courts in Central Java, Indonesia, Friday. Leading the charge was fourth seeded pair, Lee Jian Yi/Lim Zhen Ting who edged Agripinna Prima Rahmanto Putra/Rian Swastedian Gelora from the host country 21-19, 21-16 according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website www.bwfbadminton.org. Following in their footsteps were sixth seeds Chooi Kah Ming/Low Juan Shen who dislodged Po Li-Wei/Yang Ming-Tse of Taiwan 21-14, 21-14. Another Malaysian pair, seeded seventh, Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin, however, lost 17-21, 14-21 to top seeds Liao Kuan Hao/Lu Chia Pin of Taiwan. National backup women's doubles pair, Lim Yin Loo/Yap Cheng Wen staged the biggest upset of the tournament by knocking out top seeds in the tournament, Keshya Nurvita Hanadia/Devi Tika Permatasari of Indonesia 21-7, 21-17. In the women's singles, Soniia Cheah remained the only Malaysian left standing after two others, sixth seed Lim Yin Fun and eighth seed Lim Ying Ying lost to their respective opponents despite putting up a strong fight. Cheah who is also a former national shuttler, defeated Yulia Yosephin Susanto of Indonesia 21-16, 21-17. Yin Fun meanwhile, put up stiff resistance against second seed Dinar Dyah Ayustine of Indonesia before losing 21-19, 11-21, 8-21 in a match that lasted about 62 minutes. Ying Ying also put up a splendid performance against Dinar's teammate and third seed Hana Ramadhini before losing 18-21, 21-19 and 19-21. The country's challenge in the men's singles had already fizzled out Thursday while Malaysia did not send any representative in the mixed doubles competitions of the tournament that offers US$20,000 (RM84,103) as total prize money. -- BERNAMA