Maribor: Malaysia’s young mixed doubles pair – Choong Hon Jian/Toh Ee Wei, and women’s doubles pair – Low Yeen Yuan/Valeree Siow, put on a fantastic performance to bag two titles at the 2021 Slovenia International at the Dras Center in Maribor on Saturday.
Although both pairs had to play the semi-finals and finals on the same day, but they remained energetic until their final matches.
Choong Hon Jian/Toh Ee Wei, both 20, saved two set-points against No. 8 seeds Kristoffer Knudsen of Denmark and Malena Norrman of Sweden to beat the Denmark/Sweden pair 23-21, 21-17 in the semi-final.
The World No. 263 Choong/Toh then needed 32 minutes to overcome Muh Putra Erwiansyah/Sofy Al Mushira Asharunnisa of Indonesia 21-18, 21-18 to grab the title. This was the second international title for Choong/Toh as they also won the Polish Open on March 28, 2021, by defeating Nicolas A. Mueller/Ronja Stern of Switzerland 21-16, 21-12.
Meanwhile, Low Yeen Yuan/Valeree Siow made it a double joy for the Malaysian squad as the unseeded 19-year-old Malaysians upset No. 3 seeds and world No. 133 Isabella Nielsen/Marie Steffensen of Denmark 21-11, 21-15 for their first international title.
Low/Siow were made to work hard in the semi-final before edging past Mariia Stoliarenko/Yelyzaveta Zharka of Ukraine 13-21, 21-13, 21-12 in a hard-fought win that lasted 52 minutes.
Meanwhile, the twins – Cheng Su Hui/Cheng Su Yin failed to make it to an all-Malaysian women’s doubles final as they were defeated by Nielsen/Steffensen 21-15, 17-21, 19-17 in the semi-final.
In men’s doubles, Beh Chun Meng/Goh Boon Zhe were no match to the unseeded Indonesians Muh Erwiansyah/Patra Rindorindo, losing 9-21, 18-21 in the semi-final. Erwiansyah/Rindorindo eventually emerged as the champions by beating William Kryger Boe/Christian Faust Kjær of Denmark 21-13, 21-13.
