It was all down to the wire in the final men’s single before Puchong United BC was able to pick up their first win in the Resorts World Genting Purple League 2015 when they edged Petaling BC by the closest of 11-10 margins here this evening at the Sports Arena @ Sentosa.
And despite some harrowing moments Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk – the world’s No. 29 ranked player – held on to beat Petaling’s Kenichi Tago of Japan 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7 and 11-10.
“It was as close as it could get. The final game of the men’s singles certainly put everyone at the edge of their seat,” said Puchong United team manager Irina Imoetseva afterwards.
“The win was very narrow but it was a win nonetheless and that was very important start for us.”
Puchong United had won the first men’s singles 3-0 when Chinese Taipei’s Hsueh Hsuan Yi delivered the commanding win over Petaling’s Tan Vi Hen 11-2, 11-3 and 11-8.
They then stretched that advantage in the women’s singles when Wan Yi Tang overcame a resolute Petaling’s Ana Rovita 3-2 for close to an hour before winning 11-10, 5-11, 9-11, 11-9 and 11-8.
Trailing by 6-2 going into the mixed doubles, the Indonesian pair of Ardiansyah and Devi Tika turning out for Petaling BC were certainly not deterred even though they were up against the more experienced Christinna Pedersen partnering Wong Fai Yin.
And Christinna (with Joachim Fischer Nielsen) – who had won the Indonesia Super Series Premier and also the India Super Series last year – showed plenty of grit before losing the game 3-2.
Christinna-Fai Yin won the first set 11-10 before Ardiansyah-Devi took back the next two sets 11-9, 11-8. And while Christinna-Fai Yin managed to take the next set 11-10 to draw the game 2-2, there was no stopping Ardiansyah-Devi from taking the fifth set 11-9 for the win.
“The game was very hard and it was very close all the way to the finish. But we had very good communications between us which in the end, paved the way for our win today,” said Ardiansyah after the 52-minute battle.
The win for Petaling BC allowed them to pull up to just within a point away as Puchong United hold sway at 7-5 going into the men’s double.
Boosted with confidence and trailing 8-5, Petaling then had Goh V Shem-Shia Chun Kang taking to court where they took on Lee Jae Jin-Yew Hong Kheng.
V Shem, the Commonwealth Games gold medallist last year in Glasgow, dropped just a set but in the end won 3-1 (11-6, 11-9, 7-11 and 11-8) to close the gap at 9-8 to Puchong United’s advantage.
But Tanongsak made sure of the victory for Puchong United with the close 3-2 win in the second men’s singles for their first win of the new season.
