Tze Yong upsets Chou as lights go out on men and women pairs

PETALING JAYA: Misfortune struck women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah but Ng Tze Yong made it a memorable run to reach the men’s singles quarter-finals in the Arctic Open.

Pearly-Thinaah’s European trip is over as they will not compete in the Denmark Open from Oct 12-17 and French Open from Oct 24-29 after the former aggravated her injury in Vantaa, Finland on Wednesday.

The pelvic strain that Pearly suffered during the Hangzhou Asian Games has turned out to be worse than expected and she would be returning home for treatment.

Pearly-Thinaah were forced to concede a walkover to Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hsin-Teng Chun-hsun without hitting a shuttle in the second round yesterday. They also did not play in the first round after receiving a walkover from Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand of India.

Malaysia had already lost top men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik when they fell 11-21, 18-21 to compatriots Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun in the first round while the challenge of Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani is also over after losing 21-14, 21-19 to world championships runners-up Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmuseen of Denmark in the second round.

National director of coaching Rexy Mainaky confirmed that Pearly-Thinaah will head for home on Saturday.

“Pearly suffered the pelvic strain during the Asian Games and she has yet to fully recover,” said Rexy.

“So, they have also withdrawn from the next two tournaments (Denmark and French Opens) to allow Pearly to focus on her treatment and recovery.”

While doubles were dealt with cruel blows, Tze Yong lifted the gloom by unseating former world No. 2 Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan to set up a last eight match-up against Lu Guangzu of China.

Despite losing his first two meetings in the second round of the Malaysian Masters last year and in the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open in April, Tze Yong showed that he has taken great strides by beating Tien-chen 21-15, 21-16.

World No. 19 Tze Yong also performed well at the Hangzhou Asian Games where he also reached the last eight before losing to Kodai Naraoka of Japan.

The Malaysian has yet to beat Guangzu in his previous two meetings but the win against Tien-chen should give him the boost to go for his first win over the world No. 12.

Tze Yong’s victory had a positive effect on Leong Jun Hao who also advanced to the quarter-finals after coming from behind to beat Arnaud Merkle of France 15-21, 21-17, 21-19 in the second round.

He will face teammate Lee Zii Jia for a place in the semi-finals.

Zii Jia defeated Chico Aura of Indonesia 21-17, 18-21, 21-11.

There was also cheer in the mixed doubles as Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei dished out another brilliant effort to beat experienced Hong Kong pair Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet 21-11, 21-10 in 29 minutes to reach the last eight.

Tang Jie-Ee Wei, the world No 9, had reached the quarter-finals of the World Championships in Copenhagen in August and also