MULHEIM AN DER RUHR: Malaysia’s badminton team has stormed into the quarterfinals of the 2025 World University Games after a hard-fought 3-0 win against France in the round-of-16 at Westenergie Sporthalle.
The French side pushed the Malaysian players to their limits, with all three matches going to three sets. Mixed doubles pair Wee Yee Hern and Clarissa San set the tone with a 15-13, 14-16, 15-12 victory over Lucas Renoir and Flavie Vallet. Men’s singles player Jacky Kok Jing Hong followed with a 17-15, 13-15, 15-11 win against Enogat Roy, while Wong Ling Ching sealed the deal with a 15-10, 11-15, 15-13 triumph over Romane Cloteaux-Foucault.
Jacky admitted the challenge of facing European players after a long gap. “I’m happy with the win, but it was tough. I haven’t played against European opponents in a while, so I made some unforced errors. I’ll work on reducing them,“ he said.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s taekwondo and swimming teams faced setbacks. Ahmad Nor Iman Hakim Rakib lost 2-0 to Taiwan’s Hao-Yu Hsu in the men’s 68kg kyorugi event, while swimmer Andrew Goh Zheng Yen missed the semifinals despite finishing second in Heat Three of the men’s 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:17.84.
The athletics squad, arriving yesterday, will hold their first training session at Lohrheidestadion in Bochum today. – Bernama
