MALAYSIA MASTERS 2015 QF – More teen triumphs

19-year-olds from Korea, India, and Japan continue their runs of form by reaching the semi-finals of the Yonex Sunrise Malaysia Masters in Kuching, where some familiar faces will be looking to hold down the fort for the home team.

By Don Hearn.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (archives)

Just a few days after reaching their first senior final together, Chae Yoo Jung and Kim Ji Won (pictured above) of Korea are in their first Grand Prix Gold semi-final since their comparable appearance at home just a few weeks after they won the 2013 World Junior Championship title.  Even more noteworthy is the fact that this time, they had to beat the reigning Asian Games gold medallists to do it.

The Koreans beat Indonesia’s Nitya Krishinda Maheswari / Greysia Polii in straight games and are now on a collision course with world #3 Christinna Pedersen / Kamilla Rytter Juhl.  It was almost exactly a year ago that the Danes began their 2014 season with an unexpectedly difficult first-round win over the Koreans at the Malaysia Open Superseries Premier.

Reaching his first ever Grand Prix Gold semi-final is another Korean, Jeon Hyeok Jin (pictured).  On his first trip back to Borneo since Soo Teck Zhi beat him in the final of the 2013 Asian Junior Championships in Kota Kinabalu, Jeon finally got his revenge on Soo by prevailing in their quarter-final clash in Kuching.  He actually began the day, though, by shutting down 2013 winner of this event, Alamsyah Yunus.  Now he takes on India’s Ajay Jayaram, with the winner most likely up against Korean veteran Lee Hyun Il, who was a winner on his last trip to Kuching, at the Malaysia International Challenge in November.

Unlike Yunus, 2013 women’s singles champion Pusarla Venkata Sindhu came through to the semis unscathed.  She repeated her dominance of Macau Open final opponent Kim Hyo Min on Thursday, then stopped Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in the quarter-finals and now finds her self up against fellow 19-year-old Nozomi Okuhara in the semi-finals.

The last 19-year-old to book an appearance in the final four is Wang Chi Lin.  Teaming up with veteran Chen Hung Ling, Wang made it past a trio of recent World Junior Champions – first Teo Ee Yi and then Chooi Kah Ming and Teo Kok Siang – but now find themselves up against Commonwealth Games gold medallists Goh/Tan.  Wang will be hoping for a win that will put him in his first Grand Prix Gold final, right on his 20th birthday.

In the mixed doubles, Chan Peng Soon and Lai Pei Jing (pictured) are in their first Grand Prix Gold semi-final together, where they must take on none other than Denmark’s world #4 pair Joachim Fischer-Nielsen / Christinna Pedersen.  Along with Goh/Tan in the men’s doubles, they are Malaysia’s last hopes for a title this year in Kuching.

Click here for complete quarter-final results