It was sweet revenge for Goh Jin Wei as stunned top seed Wang Zhiyi of China to march into the women’s singles final in the Li Ning BWF World Junior Championships in Markham, Canada on Saturday.
Playing in her last World Junior Championships, Jin Wei ousted Wang Zhiyi in straight games 21-9, 21-13 in 38 minutes to set up the final against Denmark’s Line Christophersen who continued her excellent run in Markham.
The 13th seeded Dane battled for 40 minutes to upset China’s Wei Yaxin 21-18, 23-21.
Malaysia also reached the women’s doubles final with third seeds Pearly Tan Koong Le-Toh Ee Wei knocked out second seeds Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma 21-19, 21-19 in 43 minutes.
The Malaysians will face China’s top seeds, Liu Xuanxuan-Xia Yuting for the gold medal. The Chinese swept past another Indonesian pair Agatha Imanuela-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti 21-18, 21-13. The Indonesians were seeded fourth.
For Jin Wei, it has been a personal battle against Wang Zhiyi. She beat the Chinese rival 16-21, 21-13, 21-19 to become the first Malaysian to win the gold in the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.
However, Wang Zhiyi turned the tables on Jin Wei in the mixed team quarter-finals in Markham 21-19, 21-14 in the women’s singles in China’s 3-1 win.
Meanwhile, the men’s singles final will be between top seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand and Japan’s unseeded Kodai Naraoka. The Thai defeated India’s Lakshya Sen 20-22, 21-16, 21-13 while Naraoka upset third seed Li Shifeng of China 21-11, 19-21, 21-17 in thrilling encounters that lasted 71 minutes and 85 minutes respectively. – BYÂ RIZAL ABDULLAHÂ
