MALAYSIA’S badminton campaign at the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 World University Games (WUG) continued to progress with five national representatives advancing to the round of 32 early today, Malaysian time.
Two national men’s singles shuttlers, Jacky Kok Jing Hong and Eogene Ewe, booked their berths after defeating their respective opponents in the round of 64 at the Westenergie Sporthalle. Jacky is set to face Sok Rekreay of Sri Lanka while Eogene will meet Donnias Oliveira of Brazil.
In the women’s singles event, Wong Ling Ching will play Weronika Gorniak of Poland, while Siti Zulaikha Muhammad Azmi is scheduled to meet Suhasni Vidanage of Sri Lanka.
Also advancing are mixed doubles pair Liew Xun-Vannee Gobi, who will take on Sathish Kumar Karunakaran-Vaishnavi Khadkekar of India.
Malaysia, however, failed to at least defend its bronze medal in the men’s doubles event after Muhammad Fazriq Mohamad Rashid-Bryan Jeremy Gooting were ousted by Japan’s Shiina Sato-Tsubasa Yoshida 9-15, 7-15 in the round of 32.
Earlier, the same Japanese pair had eliminated another Malaysian duo, Liew Xun-Wee Yee Hern, 15-12, 15-10 in the round of 64.
In archery action at Sportpark Am Hallo in Essen, Malaysia moved into the 1/8 elimination round in both the men’s and women’s recurve team events, as well as the men’s and women’s compound team events. The mixed recurve team is set to compete in the 1/12 elimination round.
Meanwhile, on the final day of taekwondo, Malaysia ended its campaign without a medal after the men’s team kyorugi trio of Ahmad Nor Iman Hakim Rakib, Fu Cern Put Thai and Muhammad Syafiq Zuber went down 0-2 to Taiwan in the round of 16.
At the Schwimm- und Sprunghalle im Europasportpark in Berlin, Tan Khai Xin failed to progress in the final day of swimming events after finishing fourth in heat two of the men’s 400-metre individual medley with a time of 4 minutes 33.78 seconds.
The men’s 4x100m medley relay quartet of Khiew Hoe Yean, Andrew Goh, Leong Bryan Xin Ren and Arvin Shaun Singh Chahal also failed to advance after finishing seventh in heat four with a time of 3:42.47.
In athletics, Jonah Chang Rigan missed out on a spot in the men’s shot put final after finishing 16th in the qualifying round with a throw of 17.75 metres at Lohrheidestadion in Bochum. – Bernama
