# V Shem-Wee Kiong fall in the quarter-finals
World No 14 Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie pulled off another sensational win over a seeded pair to reach the semi-finals in the prestigious USD1,000,000 All England Championships in Birmingham on Friday.
The Malaysians who defeated seventh seeds, Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith of England to advance to the last eight put up another fighting display to stun second seeds Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping of China in a come-from-behind 13-21, 22-20, 21-18 win in 63 minutes.
The Malaysians will take on defending champions and top seeds Yuta Watanabe-Arsia Higashino of Japan in the last four on Saturday. The Japanese also came through a tough ride to down Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad-Winny Oktavina Kandow 24-22, 21-16.
With the win Soon Huat-Shevon stretched their head to head lead over the Chinese to 3-1.
Soon Huat-Shevon was the only bright spark for the Malaysian camp in the first session of the quarter-final matches at the Arena in Birmingham after Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong fell by the wayside in the men’s doubles.
The former world No 1 and Rio Olympics silver medal winners lost to Indonesia’s Asian Games silver medallists Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto 20-22,12-21 in 40 minutes.
The Malaysians simply crumbled and lost direction in the second after failing to press home the advantage in the first. In the second the Indonesians took the break at 11-3 and were never in danger of losing although the Malaysians made a brief fightback to narrow the gap.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, two-time defending champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei defeated Saina Nehwal of India in straight games 21-15, 21-19 in 37 minutes.
In another women’s singles match Japan’s No 2 seed Akane Yamaguchi battled to a three-game 21-16, 19-21, 21-12 win over China’s He Bingjiao in 65 minutes which brought out the best in both players. RIZAL ABDULLAH
