Eei Hui-Pei Tty fail to get even with their Japanese nemesis

PETALING JAYA: It was the end of the road for Malaysia’s top women shuttlers Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty at the Swiss Open in Basel yesterday.

The top seeds failed to live up to their billing when they went down 21-17, 18-21, 10-21 to Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna of Japan in a 74-minute quarter-final match.

They showed great fighting spirit in the second game when they made a remarkable comeback from 9-14 to level the score at 17-17.

But they ran out of steam at the crucial stage and allowed the Japanese to force the decider with a 21-18 win.

In the decider, the Malaysians were left trailing 2-9 but they refused to give in easily. They fought back but it all ended in vain when they went down 10-21.

With the defeat, the duo failed to bury the ghost of the past against the Japanese.

In their last encounter at the World Championships in India in August, the Malaysian were made to eat humble pie by the Japanese in the third round.

The exit also prevented them from making up for their disappointment of losing in the first round of the All-England last week at Birmingham.

National doubles chief coach Rexy Mainaky was disappointed.

“They showed great fighting spirit in the second game but poor finishing saw then losing the game. They could have won it,” said Rexy.

“We knew that it will not be easy despite winning the first game. The Japanese are fighters and they showed it on the court today.”

In the men’s section, world number one and top seeds Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong checked into the quarter-finals with a 21-15, 21-11 win over Denmark’s Rasmus Bonde-Simon Mollyhus.

The Malaysians will meet South Koreans Kim Ki-jung-Shin Baek-cheol in the last eight.

If they win, Kien Keat-Boon Heong are likely face All-England runners-up Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen of Denmark in the semi-finals. Said Rexy: “They are certainly playing better and are more focused.

“I wish they had shown the same spirit during the All-England. It will not be easy against the South Koreans but I hope Koo and Tan will live up to their top billing.”

There were several upsets in the men’s singles event, with All-England runner-up Tago Kenichi and Indonesian Taufik Hidayat crashing out in the second round.

Tago, who tamed China’s Chen Jin and Bao Chunlai at the All-England, lost 18-21,12-21 to China’s youngster Du Pengyu.

Kazushi Yamada made up for his compatriot’s defeat by disposing of Taufik 21-15, 21-12.

SECOND ROUND

Men’s singles: Nguyen Tien Minh (Vie) bt Carl Baxter (Eng) 21-18, 21-13, Chen Long (Chn) bt Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (Ina) 21-12, 17-21, 21-15; Peter-Gade Christensen (Den) bt Park Sung-hwan (Kor) 21-15, 21-16; Hu Yun (Hkg) bt Dicky Palyama (Ned) 10-21, 21-11, 21-13; Chen Jin (Chn) bt Joachim Persson (Den) 21-19, 21-11; Du Pengyu (Chn) bt Kenichi Tago (Jpn) 21-12, 21-18; Kazushi Yamada (Jpn) bt Taufik Hidayat (Ina) 21-15, 21-12; Lin Dan (Chn) bt Shon Wan-ho (Kor) 21-11, 21-14.

Men’s doubles: Kim Ki-jung-Shin Baek-cheol (Kor) bt Baptiste Careme-Sylvian Grosjean (Fra) 21-13, 21-16; Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hirata (Jpn) w.o. Adam Cwalina-Michal Logosz (Pol); Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen (Den) bt Michael Fuchs-Ingo Kindervater (Ger) 21-8, 21-13; Guo Zhengdong-Xu Chen (Chn) bt Naoki Kawamae-Shoji Sato (Jpn) 21-14, 21-19; Chen Hung-ling-Lin Yu-lang (Tpe) bt Cho Gun-woo-Kwon Yi-goo (Kor) 21-16, 21-10; Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (Mas) bt Rasmus Bonde-Simon Mollyhus (Den) 21-15, 21-11; Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Den) bt Hiroyuki Endo-Yoshiteru Hirobe (Jpn) 21-15, 21-19; Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong (Kor) bt Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung (Kor) 17-21, 22-20, 25-23.

* Matches involving Malaysians in other events

Women’s doubles: Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty bt Samantha Barning-Eefje Muskens (Ned) 21-15, 21-17.

QUARTER FINAL

Women’s doubles: Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna (Jpn) bt Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty 17-21, 21-18, 21-10.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 9:24 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0