Badminton: Zul continues to dominate junior circuit
Top News 2:45 PM
PETALING JAYA: The hopes of Perak’s aspiring shuttler Chan Ren Cong for a maiden victory went bust while Kuala Lumpur’s Zulfadli Zulkifli continued to reign supreme in the national junior circuit.
Yesterday, unseeded Ren Cong took the fight to second seed Lee Teng Hau of Penang before running out of steam to lose 22-24, 22-20, 13-21 in 55 minutes in the boys’ Under-18 final of the Zone A competition in Ipoh.
Zulfadli Zulkifli: Aims to win at the national circuit’s Grand Prix Finals next month.
However, there were successes for hosts Perak with Rooben Raj Velayutham and Vincent Phuah Cheng Wei emerging as the Under-12 and Under-16 boys’ singles champions respectively.
Junior badminton powerhouse Penang continued with their domination, claiming nine of the 16 titles at stake.
In the Zone B competition in Malacca, Zulfadli stayed on track to end his junior career on a high note this year.
He won a double yesterday. In the boys’ Under-18 singles final, he defeated team-mate Tan Jin Shen 21-17, 21-12.
And he teamed up with younger brother Zulfaiz to beat Mohd Razlan Shah Ridzuan Shah-Wong Fai Yin of Negri Sembilan 21-11, 22-20 for the doubles title.
It would have been a grand day for the Zulkifli family but for youngest sibling Zulhelmi losing in both the boys’ Under-16 singles and doubles finals.
Zulfadli was happy to continue his domination in the junior circuit.
He had also won a double in the opening leg of the circuit in Negri Sembilan last month.
“This is my last year as a junior and I want to win as many titles as possible.
“My next goal is to win at the national circuit’s Grand Prix Finals next month (at the Juara Stadium in Bukit Kiara, KL),” he said.
“My ultimate goals this year is to win honours for the country in the Asian and world junior tournaments.
“I am waiting for the BAM (Badminton Association of Malaysia) to invite me to join the centralised training programme.”
Zulfadli, who moved 30 rungs up to 170 in the world rankings following a second round outing in the Australian Open in Melbourne last week, said that his next international tournament would be the Malaysia Grand Prix Gold in Alor Setar from May 3-8.
Meanwhile, Malacca showed that they have quality junior players in their ranks when they claimed eight of the 16 titles in the Zone B championships.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 2:45 PM.
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