Naomi Okuhara of Japan retrieving a shot during her semi-final match against PV Sindhu of India. — Photo by Azahan Rosli
Malaysian hopes extinguished in doubles
KUCHING: Japanese fourth seed Naomi Okuhara put up an excellent fight-back to oust second seed PV Sindhu of India in the women’s singles semi-final of the Yonex-Sunrise Malaysian Masters badminton championship at the Sarawak Indoor Stadium yesterday.
Although Naomi lost the first set 19-21, her Indian opponent’s numerous errors with shots hit either into the net or outside the lines allowed her to crawl back to win the next two sets 21-13, 21-8.
She will play for the title in an all-Japan final with third seed Sayaka Takahashi who had earlier overcame fellow countrywoman Sayaka Sato 21-7, 14-21, 21-10 in the other semi-final.
The men’s final will be between South Korean veteran Lee Hyun Il and compatriot Jeong Hyeok Jin.
Lee, 35, played a steady game to dispose of Thailand’s Tanongsak Saesomboonsuk, the seventh seed, in straight sets of 21-19, 21-15 while Jeong bounced back from one set down 10-21 to see off India’s Ajay Jayaram 21-17, 21-16 in the other semi-final.
The Malaysian challenge in the championship ended yesterday, with Chan Peng Soon and Lai Pei Jing losing 10-21, 7-21 to tournament’s top seeds from Denmark Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christina Pedersen in the mixed doubles semi-finals.
The Danish pair will meet second seeds Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto from Indonesia in today’s final.
In the men’s doubles semi-finals, Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Liang lost the first set 18-21 to eighth seeds Chen Hung Ling and Wang Chi-Lin of Chinese Taipei but savaged some hope when they won the second set 21-19 before losing 12-21 in the rubber set.
Chen-Wang will face the Japanese pair of Kenta Kazuno-Kazushi Yamada in the final after the latter defeated Angga Pratama-Ricky Karanda Suwardi of Indonesia 21-17, 14-21, 21-18 in the other semi-final.