KUALA LUMPUR: Independent men’s doubles pair, Ong Yew Sin-Yeo Ee Yi treated the local badminton fans at the Axiata Arena here with a sizzling performance to upset world number five, Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-10, 11-21, 24-22 en route to the 2024 Malaysia Open quarter-finals.
Ranked 12th in the world, Yew Sin-Ee Yi put up a strong start to win the first game despite Ee Yi not having fully recovered from a right knee injury, but the Danes quickly rebounded to level the tie in their second round match.
With everything to be decided in the third set, Yew Sin-Ee Yi showed their grit to claw back from five points down to draw level at 12-12, then fought point-to-point before finally notching the win after a 61-minute battle.
“We controlled the first game, but the Danes started to play a fine game after that, we could hardly control, and kept lifting. We then tried to change a little bit of our game play, and it worked.
“We will keep trying to qualify for the Olympics until the end of the Olympics qualifications (on April 28), no matter what the outcome, we will keep trying (to qualify),” Yew Sin told reporters after the match.
In the quater-finals tomorrow, they will face the winner between 2022 edition champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan and Alexander Dunn-Adam Hall of Scotland.
It is Yew Sin-Ee Yi’s second consecutive Malaysia Open quarter-finals but last year despite making it to the quarter-finals, they went down to eventual champions Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia.
However, Ee Yi’s knee injury during the Australian Open in August, affected their performance for rest of the year, as well as their chances for Paris 2024 Olympics.
“I didn’t train so much because just started last Tuesday after recurring knee injury, but I am very happy with the results. The injury is 80 percent recovered, but the support from the fans helped us to fight hard,” Ee Yi said.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi are currently 11th in the Olympic qualification rankings, while the country’s another men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are in fourth place.
A country can only have a maximum of two representatives in the Olympics if both are ranked among the top eight.
In the quarter-finals tomorrow, they will face the 2022 edition champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan, who thrashed Scotland’s Alexander Dunn-Adam Hall 21-11, 21-13.
Meanwhile, professional mixed doubles pair, Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See bowed out from the competition following a straight sets loss to fifth seeds from China, Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin 14-21, 14-21.
Peng Soon admitted their opponent were at the top of their game, and gutted that they were not able to give home fans something to cheer about in their last appearance at the Malaysia Open.
As such, Peng Soon hoped to return to the Axiata Arena much stronger during Malaysia Masters 2024, slated to be held from May 21-26.
Zhen Bang-Ya Xin will take on third seeds, Seo Seung Jae-Chae Yu Jung after the South Korean pair ousted Indonesia’s Dejan Ferdinansyah-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja, 21-12, 21-16.-Bernama
