Kuala Lumpur: She came, she smiled and she took care of her senior. Goh Jin Wei, the 15 year-old baby-faced killer out of Penang advanced to the semi-final of Kuala Lumpur Open on Friday, after seeing off the reigning Malaysian women’s singles champion Yang Li Lian who left Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) recently 22-24, 21-1, 21-17 in a 62 minutes thriller.
That match might have been the last competitive game Yang Li Lian ever played as she has decided to quit badminton to pursue her studies.
Goh Jin Wei admitted she ‘got lucky’ after securing the dramatic win over Yang Li Lian.
“It was a hard-fought and was a very close game. I tried to play long rallies with her and that strategy ultimately paid off,” said Jin Wei.
In the men’s singles, seventh seed Goh Soon Huat ousted number seed Mohd Arif Abdul Latif 21-18, 21-13 in 40 minutes to set up a clash with Daren Liew in the semi-finals. Daren defeated Soo Teck Zhi 21-13, 21-18 in another quarter-finals match.
Meanwhile, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin was delighted to have come through an intense battle against reigning Malaysian champion Zulfadli Bin Zulkiffli 25-23, 11-21, 24-22 in a match that lasted 71 minutes.
Mixed doubles pair of Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying was granted a walkover by Tan Aik Quan/Lee Meng Yean, and will play third seeds Mohd Lutfi Zaim Bin Abdul Khalid/Soong Fie Cho on Saturday.
