INCHEON, Sept 26 — Malaysia’s national women’s doubles pair of Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei have to be content with a bronze medal when they lost to a Japanese pair at the Gyeyang Gymnasium here today.
In the semi-final match, Vivian/Woon bowed out to Ayaka Takahashi/Misaki Matsutomo 16-21 and 17-21.
The national pair sucummbed to pressure and committed many unforced errors.
Nonetheless, the bronze medal itself was a record as Vivian/Woon are the first Malaysian women’s badminton pair to clinch a medal in 44 years of the games.
Meanwhile, the men’s doubles pair of Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong advanced to the semi-finals after defeating Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa of Japan, 21-16 and 21-16.
The pair will face the host country’s Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeonseong in the semi-finals tomorrow.
In other quarter-final matches, South Korea’s Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeonseong trounced Indonesia’s Angga Pratama/Rian Agung Saputro 21-16 and 21-11 while another Korea pair of Kim Gijung/Kim Sarang defeated Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda of Japan 21-15 and 21-15.
Kim Gijung/Kim Sarang will be facing Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan, an Indonesian pair which routed India’s Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy Buss 21-12 and 21-19.
Malaysia’s No 1 singles player Datuk Lee Chong Wei thrashed India’s Kashyap Parupalli 21-12 and 21-11 to move to the quarter-finals to face Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam. — Bernama
