Eei Hui salutes Pei Tty as they check into semis

PETALING JAYA: Doubles shuttler Chin Eei Hui was proud of her partner Wong Pei Tty’s performance at the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday.

The duo combined well to pull off a big upset by dumping world No. 4 and reigning All-England runners-up Mizuki Fujii-Reika Kakiiwa of Japan with a hard-fought 21-18, 15-21, 21-14 win in one hour and 13 minutes to check into the semi-finals.

It was Pei Tty’s first tournament in eight months following a knee surgery last year.

Today, they will take on Hong Kong’s Lok Yan Poon-Ying Suet Tse for a place in the final.

Eei Hui was simply ecstatic with their feat yesterday.

“I am so proud of Pei Tty. I was looking forward to this reunion and, after eight months, she showed that she has not lost her fighting spirit,” said Eei Hui.

“She was not at her best but she did not cave in easily.

“It is certainly a good start for us.”

National coach Pang Cheh Chang, though happy with the girls’ win over the German Open champions, chose to keep his feet firmly on the ground.

“This win will give them a world of confidence but there is still a long way to go,” said Cheh Chang. “I reckon that both Eei Hui-Pei Tty will need another three to six months to become a more solid pair. This is, however, a good start and we hope that they will continue to show steady progress.”

Eei Hui-Pei Tty are still hoping to qualify for next year’s London Olympic Games and, if they can keep it up, it may still be possible.

The duo are currently ranked 67th in the world and need to break into the top 16 by the end of May next year to keep their Olympic dream alive.

It was also a good day for Malaysia in the men’s singles when veteran Wong Choong Hann stormed into the semi-finals with a 21-11, 21-12 win over Takuma Ueda of Japan.

He will take on Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto, who stunned Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana 21-19, 19-21, 21-9.

The other semi-final will be between Chan Yan Kit of Hong Kong and Sho Sasaki of Japan.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 9:28 AM. Filed under Latest News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0