Malaysia’s top women’s singles shuttler Tee Jing Yi wants to win a medal of any colour in the Singapore SEA Games after failing to get into the main draw of the Maybank Malaysia Open when she was beaten by Taiwan’s Hung Shih Hun in round two in the qualifying round at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Tuesday.
She limped into the second round after defeating Yulia Yosephine Susanto of Indonesia 21-15, 21-19 in 46 minutes with a gutsy performance despite in pain after injuring her right calf midway in the second set while leading 6-1. Jing Yi, however, playing with a heavily bandaged right knee, pulled through to win 21-19 to advance to the second round.
In the second round Jing Yi, limping throughout the match, took the first set 21-17 – including eight points in a raw when down 15-10. However, with her movements on court restricted due to the injury, could not sustain the pace and lost the next two sets at 14-21, 17-21 but earned praise for her never say die attitude.
“The next stop is the Singapore Open but the SEA Games is my main target,” said Jing Yi.
“It does not matter what colour of the medal but I aim to win one of the medals. It has been tough on me to play on a big tournament like the Malaysian Open after being out for nearly four months due to injury.
“Frankly, I am still injured and have yet to fully recover but it is good to gauge my overall condition. It shows that I still have a lot of hard work to do, including my fitness and physical condition.”
Meanwhile, it was all over for national men shuttlers when Chong Wei Feng, Daren Liew and Goh Soon Huat failed to get into the main draw when they were beaten in the first round of the qualifying round.
Chong Wei Feng, Malaysia’s main hope in the tournament, fell to a 21-23, 9-21 defeat to Denmark’s Emil Holst while Poland Open winner Daren Liew fought a 74 minute battle against Indonesia’s Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka who won 21-19, 18-21, 21-16. Soon Huat came unstuck against Indonesia’s Fikri Ihsandi Hadmadi and lost 16-21, 14-21.
