HANGZHOU, Oct 3 — National men’s singles shuttler Ng Tze Yong stunned former world champion, Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in a second round match of the Hangzhou Asian Games individual badminton competition at the Binjiang Gymnasium here, today.
The 23-year-old was calm and composed to dominate the match, before notching a 21-12, 21-14 straight sets victory over the world number nine Kean Yew, who became the first ever Singaporean to lift the world championship title in 2021.
In the battle for the quarter-finals tomorrow, Tze Yong is set to face world number 35, Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand, who beat Hussein Zayan Shaheed of the Maldives 21-3, 21-5.
“My performance today was good, but improvement is needed in every game, need to discuss with coach (Hendrawan). Tomorrow’s match will be a 50-50 affair because Kantaphon is more senior in the competition and I have never played him before.
“I have a problem with consistency, sometimes I can beat the top players and sometimes I am not able to maintain that consistency. I know what is the problem and I hope to overcome the shortfall,” he said after the match, here today.
Meanwhile, the country’s top women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah marked their Asian Games debut with an easy victory over Singapore’s Jin Yu Jia-Crystal Wong Jia Ying 21-12, 21-16 and advance to the round of 16.
The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medalists will be challenged by Thailand’s world number 10 pair, Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Tharawinda Prajongjai, who defeated Pakistan’s Mahoor Shahzad-Ghazala Siddique 21-5, 21-7.
Another women’s doubles pair Valeree Siow-Go Pei Kee saw their Asian Games campaign ended losing 21-9, 21-13 in straight sets to world number five pair Chiharu Shida-Nami Matsuyama of Japan. — Bernama
