KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — National women’s singles ace and former World Junior champion Goh Jin Wei put up a sizzling performance to beat her more illustrious Japanese opponent Haruko Suzuki to move into the women’s singles final of the Taiwan Open Grand Prix Gold tournament at the Taipei Arena, Songshan, Taiwan today.

According to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website www.bwfbadminton.com, the 17-year-old Jin Wei from Bukit Mertajam beat Suzuki 21-16, 21-17 in straight sets in a semifinal match that lasted 46 minutes.

It was the youngster’s first final of the season and prevented an all-Japanese final because the other semifinal was contested between Saena Kawakami and Natsumi Shimoda.

Kawakami eventually beat Shimoda 21-8, 21-15 to set up a dtate with Jin Wei.

Meanwhile, in the men’s singles, Lee Zii Jia who had taken the first set lost the subsequent set and the deciding tie to Chou Tien Chen from the host country.

Zii Jia, 19, took the first set 15-21 against the world number six but lost 10-21,12-21 in the subsequent sets in 51 minutes.

The country’s men’s doubles pair Chooi Kah Ming-n Low Juan Shen also failed to get past their Taiwanese opponents, going down 14-21, 21-19, 13-21 to Chen Hung Ling/Wang Chi-lin. — Bernama