Glasgow: Malaysia’s hope to defend the Commonwealth Games men’s singles title took a hit on Friday when Chong Wei Feng and Daren Liew both lost to their Indian opponents respectively.
The 2012 French Open champion Daren Liew suffered his round of 8 loss to world number 22 Parupalli Kashyap of India 13-21, 14-21 in a match that lasted 38 minutes; while Chong Wei Feng managed to stay afloat to force a deciding game, he struggled against the 24 year-old R. M. V. Gurusaidutt of India the entire third set and eventually lost to the Indian 15-21, 21-8, 17-21.
“Everything went wrong and I am very disappointed,” said Wei Feng. “I did not feel any pressure being top seed but I played too few attacking shots.”
Meanwhile, Tee Jing Yi continued her streaks in the women’s singles category by fighting off a valiant challenge from P.C Thulasi of India. Jing Yi managed to withstand the pressure after losing the first set 18-21, pulling off a spectacular comeback in the next two sets with 21-19, 21-19 to finish off the Indian in a nail-biting 73 minutes match. She will play Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland in the semi-final.
After losing the opener game to the number one seed Shinta Mulia Sari and Yao Lei of Singapore 19-21 in first set of the women’s doubles event, Lai Pei Jing and Lim Yin Loo managed to shrug off their disappointment to convert the second set into their favor with a 22-20 win. Coming into the decider, racquets were smashing, players were yelling, and momentum swung wildly back-and-forth as both pairs were clearly playing on emotion. The Malaysian finally broke down the Indian pair to book their semi-final berth with 21-19 victory in the rubber game. Vivian Hoo and Woon Khe Wei also cruised to semi-final with an easy win against Sandra le Grange-Jennifer Fry of South Africa 21-7, 21-10.
Malaysia’s gold medal hopeful in men’s doubles – Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong knocked out Ross Smith-Robbin Middleton of Australia 21-17, 21-19 to set up semi-final showdown with their biggest rival in the tournament thus far, world number 13 Chris Adcok-Andrew Eliis of England.
The only Malaysian mixed doubles pair, Chan Peng Soon-Lai Pei Jing remained on course to defend the gold for Malaysia after came out on top against Vanessa Neo-Danny Chrisnanta 21-8, 17-21, 21-19 in a hard-fought three-set final 8 match in 62 minutes. They will play Chris Langridge-Heather Olver of England in the semi-final.
