Johor served a surprise to book their place in the final of the PETRONAS National Interstate Under-18 Mixed Team Championships 2025 when they beat Selangor 4-3 in the semifinals this morning at the PBA Hall in Bukit Dambar.
With defending champions Penang encountering not even as much as a hurdle in their semifinal tie as they romped to a 4-0 whitewash of Sabah, it was the Johor-Selangor clash that drew much attention with the end-to-end action.
It was mainstay Low Zi Yu, who was once again relied upon to deliver for the Southerners, with the 16-year-old winning the two points – first through the Mixed Doubles with Chiam Zi Yi and then later, in the second Women’s Singles.
Zi Yu and Zi Yi took the first point in the Mixed Doubles semifinals, with a straight-out 21-11, 21-15 victory over Oh Wei En-Lim Yew Ern before Selangor retaliated to take the next two matches for the 2-1 lead.
The runners-up from last year, Selangor, won their first point through the first Women’s Singles match in Eng Ler Qi, who shut down Johor’s Hasyni Devi Sahathevan 21-8, 21-9 in half an hour.
It was an energy-sapping duel in the first Men’s Singles, with Arshdip Singh taking more than an hour to outpace Johor’s Wen Zhuo Kong 21-18, 19-21, 21-13.
With a point down, Johor then staged a fightback to take the next two matches.
First, it was Daniel Tan Ying Enn-Yu Hang Siau who emerged victorious in the Men’s Doubles when they outlasted Branson Hee Hek Fung-Tiew Wei Jie 20-22, 21-16, 21-12 in 54 minutes.
Then, it was Zi Yu’s turn to once again win the point for Johor with the World Junior finalists, needing less than half an hour to knock down Kiera Wong Yin Xuen 21-12, 21-17.
With the score at 3-2 to Johor, the second Men’s Singles tie saw the lanky Razeeq Danial Rosli, who won the PETRONAS National Under-18 Championships last year, making a game of it for Selangor to draw the series 3-3.
The 18-year-old Razeeq took a good 38 minutes before he was able to get the better of Zi Yi, 21-17, 21-7, to push the match into the decisive Women’s Doubles.
But with big game experience on the shoulders of Dania Sofea Zaidi, Johor were always the odds-on to win the match alongside partner Hasyni Devi Sahathevan.
It took Dania-Hasyni just 28 minutes to wrap up their win of the vital point and the semifinals with a straight set 21-13, 21-16 victory over Selangor’s Sheyeon Wong E-Shwen-Nilasha Kalishvaran.
