UNHERALDED Ng Tze Yong has inflicted back-to-back defeats on former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth of India to reach the men’s singles individual event final at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, just moments ago today.
The 22-year-old Johor Bahru-born shuttler, who was instrumental in sealing Malaysia’s victory in the Mixed Team event en route to a gold medal against India on Aug 2, repeated his feat by coming back from a game down to win 13-21, 21-19 and 21-10.
Just 24 hours earlier, Tze Yong, who is ranked 42nd in the world, had toppled reigning World Champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore at the quarterfinals stage with a 15-21, 21-14 and 21-11 scoreline.
Tze Yong, who led the Malaysian challenge at Birmingham 2022 after national ace Lee Zii Jia pulled out from the quadrennial international multi-sport event due to a recurring injury, next faces India’s Lakshya Sen, who sent Singaporean shuttler Teh Jia Heng packing with 21-10, 18-21, 21-16 in the other semi-final tie to decide the gold medallist.
Tze Yong will be joined in the individual event final by the national women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah, who also inflicted a back-to-back defeat on their Indian opponents Tressa Jolly-Gayathri Gopichand 21-13, 21-16.
The Malaysians had emerged triumphant at the mixed team event last week with a 21-18, 21,17 scoreline. – Aug 7, 2022
Pic credit: The Star
