Norshahida Stamps Her Class To Reach The Last Four

PETALING JAYA: Bukit Jalil Sports School’s (BJSS) Norshahida Baha­rom is clearly the player to beat in the MSSM girls’ Under-18 badminton singles after smashing her way into the semi-finals.

The top seeded Norshahida of Federal Territories defeated See To Chia Yee 21-12, 21-13 in the second round before going on to beat Penang’s P. Dheshnee 21-15, 21-15 to make the last four.

The 17-year-old shuttler, who is under the charge of former national player Wong Mew Choo at BJSS, will next face joint third-fourth seed Kaw Meng Wei of Johor for a place in the final.


Joining Norshahida in the semi-finals is BJSS team-mate Yap Rui Chen, who eliminated another Penangite, Chua Cheah Lin, 21-15, 21-10 in the last eight and will next take on Perak’s Nurul Syuhaidah.

In the boys’ Under-18, top seed Zairul Nizam Zainuddin blasted his way into the semi-finals with an impressive 21-18, 21-17 win over Sarawak’s Eric Jong.

The Johor lad will take on unseeded Ong Yew Sin of Malacca, who eliminated FT’s Chow Foo Wah 21-19, 21-19.

Meanwhile, 12-year-old badminton prodigy Goh Jin Wei, who is the defending champion in the girls’ Under-12, is once again dominating the field.

The pocket dynamite has yet to give up more than 10 points as she first beat Johor’s Tew Jia Yu 21-5, 21-4 in the second round before thrashing FT’s Oon A Xuan 21-2, 21-7 in the quarter-finals.