Bahrain: The World No. 27 Ng Tze Yong will be in a position to win his first individual international title of the season after scoring a 22-20, 21-14 semifinal win over World No. 62 Kalle Koljonen of Finland at the Bahrain International Challenge on Saturday.
The top-seeded Ng will face unseeded World No. 544 Lin Kuo Kuan of Chinese Taipei in the final. Lin put on an impressive fight to beat India’s World No. 85 Kartikey Gulshan Kumar 23-21, 21-19 in another semifinal.
Highlights of Ng Tze Yong VS. Kalle Koljonen in the 2022 Bahrain International Challenge semi-finals:
In men’s doubles, Indonesia’s unseeded Muhammad Rayhan Nur Fadillah/Rahmat Hidayat pulled off an upset to down No. 1 seeds Krishna Prasad Garaga/Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala of India 21-16, 16-21, 21-15 to face No. 2 seeds Chaloempon Charoenkitamorn/Nanthakarn Yordphaisong of Thailand on Sunday.
Also in the hunt for the Bahrain International Challenge title was Thailand’s Pitchamon Opatniputh, when the unseeded 15-year-old player shocked No. 3 seed Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei 22-20, 23-21 to enter the women’s singles final. Opatniputh will play Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo of Indonesia for the women’s singles crown.
India’s women’s doubles No. 1 seeds Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand Pullela will set up a final encounter with Lanny Tria Mayasari/Ribka Sugiarto of Indonesia while India’s Reddy B. Sumeeth/Maneesha K will compete with Ruttanapak Oupthong/Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat of Thailand for the mixed doubles gold.
