Malaysian pair turn on the style against Chinese pair to stake a claim for gold medal

RIO DE JANEIRO: Malaysian pair Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong displayed superb courage to cruise into the final of the men's doubles badminton event at the Rio Olympic Games here on Tuesday.
The closely fought thrilling semifinal encounter with China's Chai Biao/Hong Wei saw the Malaysians eventually winning 21-18, 12-21, 21-17 in 64 minutes.
Already a silver in hand, V Shem said that they will not settle for anything less than the gold and now would be focusing on the final.
"We have a medal in hand but we want to go for gold," he said.
V Shem-Wee Kiong became the first Malaysian men's doubles pair to clinch a spot in the final after Cheah Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock had won silver in the 1996 Atlanta Games.
"I am so happy that we qualified for the final ... it's the moment we have waited for. We made some mistakes, especially in the second game, but our determination to make the final was strong," said his partner, Wee Kiong.
The pair are likely to meet another Chinese pair, the world number four, Fu Haifeng-Zhang Nan in the final on Friday since the Chinese will take on Britain's Marcus Ellis-Chris Langridge in the other semifinal later.
In the run of play, the Malaysians took a 11-8 lead before the Chinese charged back to tie the game at 15-15 but V Shem-Wee Kiong switched on the attacking mode to seal the game 21-18.
The Chinese stepped up a gear in the second set and raced to a 11-8 lead before wrapping up the game 21-12 to force the tie into the decider.
The start of the deciding game was evenly contested though the Chinese took a five-point lead midway, leading 11-6, before V Shem-Wee Kiong withstood the mounting pressure to accomplish the giant killing act and proudly move into the final. — Bernama