FIGHTING TALK: Shuttler vows Malaysia will produce their best against Indonesia
To expect anyone but Indonesia to win gold in the men's team event is a realistic assumption but young Malaysian shuttler Arif Latif is having none of it.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Sonia Wants To Build On Her World Junior Success In SEA Games
SEPANG: There was an extra spring in Sonia Cheah’s step when she walked out of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) yesterday.
The 17-year-old Sonia had good reason to be on cloud nine as she had played a starring role in Malaysia’s mixed team triumph at the World Junior Badminton Championships in Taipei.
Future In Zul’s Hands
Yesterday, the 18-year-old decided to stay faithful to his father cum fulltime coach Zulkifli Sidek as he begins his journey as a senior player - aspiring to become the Olympic and world champion and natural successor to world number one Lee Chong Wei.
Sonia Wants To Build On Her World Junior Success In SEA Games
The 17-year-old Sonia had good reason to be on cloud nine as she had played a starring role in Malaysia’s mixed team triumph at the World Junior Badminton Championships in Taipei.
Suitably motivated, she wants to build on that success. Her immediate task at senior level is to do well in her first SEA Games outing this month. Then it is back to chasing her ambition to become a more successful player than former international Wong Mew Choo.
The 17-year-old Sonia is expected to play as the third singles in the women’s team event at Jakarta from Nov 12-19.
The two other shuttlers ranked higher than Sonia are her elder sister Lydia and Tee Jing Yi.
The doubles players in the team are Indonesia Grand Prix Gold champions Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei and Goh Liu Ying-Sabrina Chong.
Their main rival for the team gold will be hosts Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, who will be banking on their three-time junior world champion Inthanon Ratchanok to mount a strong challenge.
“I performed quite well in the mixed team event. I dropped a match in the tie against Hong Kong but made up by winning a point against South Korea in the final. I can look back on my junior career and be proud of being in the winning team,” said Sonia.
“I am determined to be a good team player in my first senior tournament - the SEA Games next week. I am only competing in the team event but I may be called on to deliver if the tie is level at 2-2. I feel more confident after the world junior meet.”
Malaysia’s women’s team pulled off a surprise at the Laos Games two years ago when they defeated Indonesia for the team gold - a first in three decades.
Despite her euphoria, Sonia has one regret: “I did not live up to my own expectations in the individual event. I had hoped to reach my first semi-finals but crashed out in the last eight. It was a close fight against Nozomi Okuhara and I was unlucky to lose,” she said.
The Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) student said that her ultimate goal was to be the country’s top woman shuttler.
“It is not only about filling the void left by Mew Choo but my goal is to be even more successful than her. I know the journey ahead looks challenging but I am willing to go the extra mile to reach the top,” she said.
Malaysia’s weakest department in the national team is the women’s singles. No one has stepped up since the retirement of 2003 SEA Games singles champion Mew Choo in April this year.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Nelson-Teo Bury Chokers’ Tag With Perfect Show
PETALING JAYA: For Nelson Heg Wei Keat-Teo Ee Yi, the thought of being dubbed as chokers was unbearable.
And driven to make a point, the duo gave a spotless performance to upstage top seed and Asian junior champions Huang Po-jui-Lin Chia-yu of Taiwan 21-17, 21-17 in the boys’ doubles final of the World Junior Championships in Taiwan yesterday.
Besides the Asian junior meet in India this year, they had also crashed out in the final of last year’s world junior meet.
Driven duo: Malaysia’s Nelson Heg Wei Keat (right) and Teo Ee Yi posing with the World Junior Championships doubles trophy Sunday.Wei Keat was happy that they were able to bid farewell to their junior careers in style.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Shuttlers Zulfadli and Wei Keat on course to being world junior champs
KUALA LUMPUR: Shuttlers Zulfadli Zulkifli and Nelson Heg Wei Keat are another step closer to realising their dreams of being history-makers when they checked into the semi-finals of the World Junior Championships in Taipei yesterday.
Zulfadli had to switch his style of play after a disastrous start to beat Indonesia’s Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo 10-21, 21-10, 21-16 in a 43-minute quarter-final match.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Sonia And Nelson Enter Two Quarter- Finals Each In World Juniors
PETALING JAYA: Sonia Cheah served up a double joy for Malaysia in the World Junior Badminton Championships when she checked into two quarter-finals in Taipei yesterday.
The 17-year-old Sonia exacted sweet revenge over Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi 21-6, 15-21, 24-22 to set up a clash against Nozomi Okuhara for a place in the girls’ singles semi-finals.
She and Yang Li Lian then scored a convincing 21-18, 21-12 win over Chloe Birch-Emily Westwood of England to advance to the doubles quarter-finals. Awaiting them are the formidable South Koreans Lee So-he-Shin Seung-chan.
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) junior programme coordinator Hau Kim Tho was happy that Sonia had made a quick rebound.
Living dangerously: Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi (front) and Nelson Heg Wei Keat slogged for a 15-21, 22-20, 21-19 win over Japan’s Kento Momota-Taichi Saito in their World Junior Badminton Championships’ boys’ doubles third round match Thursday.
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