KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — National men’s singles professional player Liew Daren proved everyone, including himself, wrong when he sent world No. 2 Shi Yuqi of China packing 21-12, 16-21, 21-11 in the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Masters 2019 today.

Admitting that even he did not think it was possible to beat Yuqi, world No. 31 Daren will have to raise his game again when he faces fourth seed Son Wan-ho of South Korea in tomorrow’s semi-finals at the Axiata Arena, KL Sports City, here.

But, first, he deserves to bask in the limelight after a hard-fought win over Yuqi.

"I played as usual and attacked him more. Overall, I am satisfied with my performance here. At least I’ve equalled my previous best achievement in the Malaysia Masters, having also qualified for the semi-finals last year. This time, I aim to reach the final,” said Daren, adding that his target this year was to improve his world ranking so that he could qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Daren’s semi-final opponent, Wan Ho, had to fight back from a first-game deficit to beat seventh seed Kidambi Srikanth of India 21-23, 21-16, 21-17 in their quarter-final clash.

Meanwhile, it was the end of the road for young national shuttler Lee Zii Jia, who lost 12-21, 20-22 to former world champion and fifth seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark. — Bernama