Kedah’s Abdul Rahman Mohd Erfan denied an all-Selangor final in the Boys’ Under-16 singles in the 100Plus National Junior Circuit Zone B in Alor Setar when he defeated Lim Thian Loong 21-14, 21-19 in the semi-finals on Friday.
The unseeded Kedahan will now try to stop top seed and favourite Jimmy Wong in the final on Saturday. Jimmy who won the first-leg in Kuala Terengganu in March, eased into his second successive final in the circuit when he ousted Selangor’s Yap Juin An 21-10, 22-20 in 30 minutes.
Selangor, however, were unstoppable in the Girls’ Under-16 singles with top seed K. Letshanaa, setting up an all-Selangor final with compatriot and second seed Loh Zhi Wei – which is a repeat final of the first-leg.
Letshanaa, won the final in Kuala Terengganu 21-7, 21-13 and is the favourite for the title in Alor Setar. In the semi-finals Letshanaa stopped Kedah’s hope Cheng Su Hui 21-11, 21-17 while Zhi Wei was taken the distance before prevailing 21-17, 19-1, 21-15 against compatriot Lai Zi Ying in 43 minutes.
In the Zone C matches played at the Dewan Badminton Gan Hong Hoe in Melaka Johor’s top seed Muhammad Affan Atabek and winner of the first-leg in Putrajaya, established himself as the favourite with 21-15, 21-16 win over Kuala Lumpur’s Yeap Wei Yan in a third-round match.
In the quarter-finals on Saturday the Johorean will face Kuala Lumpur’s Hooi Shao Herng who defeated Melaka’s Muhammad Ammar Rusyaidi Razif 21-12, 21-8.
Other third round matches saw first-leg runners-up and second seed Muniandy Sharveen of Johor make the quarters with a 21-18, 21-12 win over Sarawak’s Goh Shun Khiat. Joining him in the last eight was teammate Jason Lau Wei Jian.
In the Girls’ Under-16 top seed Yeoh Zi Xuan stayed alive with a 23-25, 21-12, 21-1 win over local hope Vaishnavi Er Xin Mei while her teammate Odelia Wong Qiao Shi dealt Melaka a double blow with a 21-7, 21-7 win over Azwa Umairah Rozi.
In Zone A matches played at the Kota Kinabalu Sports Complex there was a major upset when Penang’s unseeded Samuel Lee packed off first-leg winner and top seed Samin Demond Anthony of Sabah in straight games 21-18, 21-12.
There was no problem for another Sabah hope Mozes Mohd Hamizan when the joint 3/4 seed came through a hard fought 19-21, 21-18, 21-14 win over Penang’s Goh Boon Zhe.
