Taipei: Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong, and Daren Liew led the Malaysian team to win its first ever Jeunesse Cup International All-Star Tournament on Sunday.
Playing against the home team Taiwan and of course a vociferous and understandably partisan home crowd, the Malaysian team made a storming start by barreling through the men’s doubles when World No. 15 Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong beat World No. 17 Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin 21-17, 21-19 through their aggressive attacks.
“We got into our rhythm slower than our opponents, and then it was too hard for us to catch up with them,” said Lee Yang after the match.
Meanwhile, Tan Wee Kiong also praised the performance from the Taiwanese pair.
“Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin are still very young, they have a promising future ahead of them,” said Tan.
Some exciting badminton was witnessed in the men’s singles, in which World No. 24 Daren Liew of Malaysia faced World No. 65 Hsu Jen Hao of Taiwan in a battle to give either the victory to Malaysia, or a chance for Taiwan to force a third match. Liew, however, possessed just the right combination of unflappable temperament and strong smashes to blunt the Taiwanese 21-12 in the first set. However, Hsu quickly regained his tempo in the second set to draw level at 21-14. The decider was definitely a nail-biter and both players played a great match before Liew edging out Hsu 21-16 to seal the victory for Malaysia.
“The competition at this year’s Jeunesse Cup was very intense. Playing at this tournament could be a good help to get me ready for the Olympic qualifications,” added Liew.
Denmark won the third place after Mathias Boe/Mads Conrad-Petersen lost to Lee Yong-Dae/Tan Boon Heong 13-21, 14-21 in the men’s doubles match, Rasmus Gemke beat Lee Hyun-Il 17-21, 21-18, 21-19 in the men’s singles that followed and Mathias Boe/Mads Conrad-Petersen exacted revenge by beating Lee Yong-Dae/Tan Boon Heong in the final match with 11-9.
