Curson Cheng Yu Yang delivered the decisive win in the Boys’ Under-16 Singles to deliver Melaka the team title in the 100PLUS National Interstate Under-12 & 16 Team Championships 2025 here at the Stadium Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur.
The losing finalists at last year’s final, Melaka made up for that disappointment when they edged out former champions Kedah 2-1 at this year’s finale which took more than two hours to complete.
Syed Harraz Sayed Muzir had given Melaka the best of start when he delivered the first point in the first Boys’ Singles.
But the duel against Chong Lee Quan was anything but plain sailing with the 16-year-old needing 53 minutes to subdue his opponent in a three-set battle.
Lee Quan had taken the first set 21-16 before Syed Harraz stormed to a 21-8 victory in the second set.
The pivotal third set saw Syed Harraz having to put up with long rallies before he was able to chalked the 22-20 exhilarating win for Melaka’s first point in the finale.
However, former champions Kedah was not about to cave in when the pair of Kieshen Sai Rao Nyanaprakash Rao and Lee Kai Xun put up a concerted effort to tie the match with win in the Boys’ Doubles.
Keishen Rao-Kai Xun raced to take the first set 21-19 for Kedah, only to see Melaka drew the match through Ungku Ammer Alif Ungku Mohamed Nur Fitdaus-Ahmad Qaid Darwisy 21-12 in the second set.
A keen third set saw Kieshen Rao-Kai Xun putting their nerves in check to take the 21-15 victory and peg the final series 1-1.
The second Boy’s Singles was pivotal and Curson certainly played his part to deliver Melaka their first Boys’ U16 crown in two years.
Curson, who lost his Boys’ U16 Singles final tie last year, puts up a more mature performance to outpace Joshua Karunagaran in straight set in less than half an hour.
The 16-year-old Curson Cheng Yu Yang recorded the 21-10, 21-8 victory to deliver the well-deserved trophy to Melaka.
