Eogene Ewe made the quarterfinals of the Men’s Singles PETRONAS Malaysia International Challenge 2024 in emphatic fashion when he dumped top seed Koo Takahashi from Japan in a three-set thriller at the Perak Badminton Arena in Ipoh earlier today.
The 19-year-old Eogene, who had won the National Under-21 Championships title in Kuantan this year – took the first set 21-14 before the Japanese fought back for the second set 21-19.
However, the fourteenth-seeded Eogene was not about to be undone in front of the home fans when he justified his promotion to the senior squad to close the third set 21-17 in a duel that lasted a gruelling 83 minutes.
Eogene’s opponent in the quarterfinals tomorrow would be Wongsup Wongsup-In from Thailand.
The unheralded Wongsup had beaten 11th-seeded Kok Jing Hong in the Round of 32 yesterday before beating another Malaysian in Hooi Shao Herng in straight set today.
Wongsup overcame Shao Herng 21-15, 21-17 in 38 minutes.
Malaysia will have two other representatives in the quarterfinals of the Men’s Singles and they are sixth-seeded Aidil Sholeh and Ong Zhen Yi, who is seeded tenth.
Zhen Yi will face fifth-seeded Riku Hatano from Japan while Aidil will square up against another Japanese in Keisuke Fujiwara, who is unranked.
In the meantime, Malaysia’s hope of a representative in the quarterfinals of the Women’s Singles fell by the wayside when S. Kisona could not raise her game to concede to Mansi Singh from India.
Third-seeded Kisona lost the first set 14-21 before recovering to take the second set 21-17.
However, the 25-year-old Kisona could not maintain focus in the third set when she conceded to a 17-21 defeat.
Malaysia’s two other representatives Ung Yi Xing and Eng Ler Qi could not progress into the quarterfinals of the Women’s Singles when they fell in their Round of 16 encounters.
Yi Xing fell 14-21, 18-21 in 25 minutes to Tidapron Kleebyeesun from Thailand as Selangor lass Eng Ler Qi was hampered by tournament’s second seed Ruzana from Indonesia 10-21, 7-21.
