Birmingham: World No. 42 Ng Tze Yong of Malaysia held off reigning world champion and World No. 9 Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 15-21, 21-14, 21-11 to reach the 2022 Commonwealth Games men’s singles semi-finals on Saturday.
The victory gave Ng a 1-0 head-to-head record over Loh, which was also his first win against any of the world’s top 10 players.
Ng Tze Yong vs. Loh Kean Yew – 2022 Commonwealth Games Men’s Singles Quarters:
Ng will take on former World No. 1 and current World No. 13 Kidambi Srikanth whom he defeated in the mixed team final 21-19, 6-21, 21-16 on August 2, 2022, which ultimately lifted Malaysia to win the mixed team gold.
Singapore’s World No. 87 Jason Teh Jia Heng will meet India’s World No. 10 Lakshya Sen in another men’s singles semi-finals.
After putting up a spirited fight against India’s World No. 7 PV Sindhu in the mixed team final last Tuesday, Malaysia’s two-time world junior champion Goh Jin Wei converted the first game against Sindhu 21-19 in the quarter-finals.
There were plenty of momentum-shifting moments in the second and third set, and Sindhu was dominant to dispatch Goh 21-14, 21-18 to reach the semi-finals. Sindhu will play Yeo Jia Min of Singapore while Michelle Li of Canada will face Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland in the women’s semi-finals.
Malaysia only has one mixed doubles pair that made the semi-finals after Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing defeated Callum Hemming/Jessica Pugh of England 22-20 21-11 while Chan Peng Soon/Cheah Yee See lost to Adam Hall/Julie Macpherson of Scotland 15-21, 19-21.
Tan/Lai will play Terry Hee Yong Kai/Jessica Tan Wei Han of Singapore for a spot in the final.
Meanwhile, Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik (men’s doubles), and Pearly Tan Koong Le/Thinaah Muralitharan (women’s doubles) have advanced to the semi-finals respectively.
Tan/Muralitharan will meet Jolly Treesa/Pullela Gayatri Gopichand of India in the last four, while Chia/Soh are very likely to meet Ben Lane/Sean Vendy of England. If Malaysia’s scratch pair – Chan Peng Soon/Tan Kian Meng could also reach the men’s doubles last four, they’ll set up a semi-final clash with India’s World No. 7 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty.
