INTO LAST EIGHT: James Liaw enters the last eight of the Boys U18 singles competition after dumping Sabah’s Tan Jinn Ye 21-19, 21-16 in the first round yesterday. — Photo by Davidson Kho
KUCHING: James Liaw of Sarawak made a promising start in his campaign in the Boys U-18 singles competition of the 100Plus National Junior Circuit (Sabah-Sarawak Zone) yesterday when he beat Sabah’s Tan Jinn Ye 21-19, 21-16.
He faces an uphill battle against teammate and top seed Jong Wee Fook in the quarter-finals at Sarawak Badminton Association (SBA) Hall here today.
Following Liaw into the last eight was another Sarawakian Adam Lau who disposed of Eugene Chin of Sabah 21-7, 21-15 in the first round match.
Lau’s next opponent in the quarter-finals is Mohd Rahmat Amirul of Sabah who saw off Sarawak’s Lee Zia Hern 21-7, 21-15 in another match yesterday.
The remaining quarter-finals spots were booked by Sabah’s Scott Tsang, last year’s U-16 singles champion Lawrie Herman, Affeadrey Atek Deavies and second seed Anthony Samin Jr.
In the Girls U-18 singles contest, Sarawak’s Michelle Kong, who is the top seed, will open her campaign against Sabah’s Ester Leevinia Samin in the last eight after the latter easily beat Sarawak’s Lau Siew Hung 21-3, 21-13 in the first round.
Kong was the runner-up in last year’s event.
Second seed Vinnie Liong, who finished in third place last year, will meet Sabah’s Rabecca Olivia Dominic in another quarter-final match today while Hafizah Zulkifli will play Sabah’s Cheong Sing Yueh.
In the doubles competition, the Boys U18 top seeded pair from Sarawak James Liaw and Jong Wee Fook are lined up against Sabah’s Azzam Aizat Abd Hussin and Ronnie Tan in today’s quarter-finals.
Other quarter-final matches will see Lau Yi Ping and Lee Zia Hern (Sarawak) taking on Lawrie Herman-Mohd Al Azim Abdul Thani (Sabah), Adam Lau and Alfred Lau (Sarawak) facing Anthony Samin Jr-Shyzeddie Serikin (Sabah) and second seeds from Sabah Brandon Caine Mail and Tan Jinn Ye playing Sarawak pair Darly Chong and Jeremy Toh.
In the five-team Girls U18 doubles competition, top seeds from Sarawak Michelle Kong and Vinnie Liong will play Sabah’s Liew Sui Xin and Rabecca Olivia Dominic for a place in the final.
The other semi-final match is between second seeds Cheong Sing Yueh and Ester Leevinia Samin from Sabah and Sarawak’s Lau Siew Hung and Lee Sing Ching.
Lau-Lee advanced to the last four after beating another Sarawakian pair Ling Fung Ngiik and Yong Hung Hiong 21-10, 21-12 in the quarterfinals yesterday.
Seventy-six more matches will be played today and the finals for all categories will be played tomorrow, starting at 8:30am.
The competition include eight categories namely the U-18, U-16, U-14 and U-12 each for boys and girls and the champions of U-18, U-16 and U-14 will qualify for the grand finals of the national level competition.