Leong, Jin Wei move to World Junior meet semis

KUALA LUMPUR: Two national junior shuttlers – Leong Jun Hao and Goh Jin Wei continued their smashing performance by cruising to the semi-finals at the World Junior Badminton Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, today.
Leong, the fourth-seeded player, only took 36 minutes to dispose of off the 14th seed, Christo Popov of France, winning 21-14 and 21-12 in the boys singles quarter-final match held at Gor Amongrogo Sports Arena, according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website;www.bwfbadminton.com.
He is slated to meet the sixth seed, Kodai Naraoka in the semi-final, tomorrow after the Japanese player pulled off a surprise by defeating the second seed, Lakshya Sen of India 14-21, 21-17 and 21-14 in another last eight match.
Jin Wei, the 2015 world junior champion, also put up a sizzling performance by edging the 10th seed, Chananchida Jucharoen of Thailand 21-12 and 21-5 in the girls singles semi-final match.
She will square off with the fifth seed, Han Yue in the semi-final, tomorrow after the Chinese shuttler dislodged her teammate, Zhou Meng 21-13 and 21-10.
Malaysia's interest in the boys' doubles and mixed doubles, however, fizzled out after the players were defeated by their respective opponents.
Kwek Yee Jian/Man Wei Chong lost 15-21 and 24-26 to the fourth seed, Mahiro Kaneko/Yunosuke Kubota while the ninth seed, Ng Eng Cheong/Toh Ee Wei were beaten by the third seed, Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia;21-18, 14-21 and 15-21. — Bernama