KUALA LUMPUR – National men’s doubles pair, Wan Arif Junaidi-Yap Roy King, continued their excellent momentum at the Malaysia Masters by successfully advancing to the semi-finals.
Arif-Roy King made the 18th ranked pair, Rasmus Kjær-Frederik Søgaard from Denmark, their latest victims by clinching a victory of 21-18, 14-21, 21-18 in today’s quarter-finals.
Yesterday, they caused the biggest upset for Malaysia when they defeated the fourth seeded pair from Chinese Taipei, Lee Jhe Huei-Yang Po Hsuan in the second round.
Arif explained that their initial target at the Super 500 World Tour tournament was to reach the quarter-finals, thereby igniting their spirits to progress to the final stage and possibly clinch the championship.
“Alhamdulillah for today’s victory, and I am very happy to play at home. However, I hope to perform better later because I didn’t play well today.
“Our initial goal was to reach the quarter-finals, but since we’ve made it to the semi-finals, why not aim for the final and become champions.
“I feel relieved because we managed to stop the opponent’s momentum when they were chasing towards the end of the match,” said Arif after the game.
They will face another Danish pair, Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, who secured their spot in the semi-finals by defeating Malaysian duo, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzudin Rumsani with a score of 19-21, 17-21.
It was a blow for the national squad when the top-seeded pair of the tournament, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, suffered an unexpected defeat to South Korean pair, Jin Na-Na Seung Yeung, with a score of 21-11, 19-21-19-21.
“I think towards the end of the third set, we hesitated in making decisions, so it opened up opportunities for the opponents to rise and secure victory over us,” said Aaron.
Also eliminated were last year’s finalists, Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, who struggled against the Chinese pair, He Ji Ting-Ren Xiang Yu, before conceding defeat with a score of 18-21, 16-21.
Despite these setbacks, there was success for Malaysia in the women’s doubles category, as the second seeded pair Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah cruised to victory against Australia’s Setyana Mapasa-Angela Yu with a commanding score of 21-16, 21-8. – May 24, 2024