Kuala Lumpur: 17-year-old Malaysian shuttler Goh Jin Wei triumphed over her senior Sonia Cheah 21-11, 21-10 in the SEA Games women’s singles final in 31 minutes on Tuesday.
Goh who won the bronze medal at the Singapore SEA Games two years ago, got a significant morale boost from her victory heading into the World Junior championships in Jakarta this coming October.
“I was plagued with ankle injury before the SEA Games, and I didn’t really expect to win the gold especially there were so many good shuttlers playing in Kuala Lumpur,” said Goh.
“There were some top world ranked players from Thailand and Indonesia participated at the SEA Games, it’s really a tough competition,” added Goh.
Men’s singles No. 1 seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia had no trouble defeating No. 2 seed Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand 21-19, 21-16 in 37 minutes to claim the men’s gold.
“This is really special because this is the only gold medal for Indonesia in the individual events,” said Christie.
Malaysia’s men’s doubles pair Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi showed their amazing fighting spirit in front of home crowd, but Kittinupong Kedren/Dechapol Puavaranukroh of Thailand proved too much for the Malaysian pair, outlasting Ong/Teo 21-19, 20-22, 21-17 for the men’s doubles crown.
Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai couldn’t capitalize on the energy the huge home crowd provided, settling for the silver when they went down to Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattananchai 15-22, 20-22.
Thailand also won their third gold medal of the day through Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai when Puttita Supajirakul/Sapsiree Taerattanachai were forced to retire after Taerattanachai injured her left knee while leading 8-7 in the second set.
