Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian badminton superstar, Lee Chong Wei, and his mixed doubles partner Vivian Hoo, both playing equally well to stun the top seeds Tan Aik Quan/Lai Pei Jing 21-9, 21-12 in the semi-finals of Perak Open on Wednesday.
Lee Chong Wei and Vivian Hoo are no strangers to teaming up together, having taken home the 2012 Maybank National Circuit Selangor Open title after defeated No. 1 mixed double in Malaysia, Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying 21-15, 27-25. Lee/Hoo will take on second seeds Tan Chee Tean/Shevon Lai in the final on Thursday. Tan Chee Tean/Shevon Lai won a hard-fought three-set semi-finals against Tan Kian Meng/Peck Yen Wei with 21-13, 15-21, 21-9 in 49 minutes.
Youngster Goh Jin Wei came out firing to beat former No. 2 seed Yang Li Lian in the women’s singles semi-finals, winning 21-10, 21-9. After the match, Goh held an impressive 3-0 head-to-head lead over the 22-year-old Yang. Goh will face top seed Tee Jing Yi in the final.
Men’s No. 7 seed Soong Joo Ven continued to show that he is a star in the making for Malaysia when he marched on imperiously towards the Perak Open men’s singles final with a demolition of No. 2 seed Tan Chun Seang. Soong was engaged in a critical fight with Tan in the first set, and finally prevailed 22-20. Despite summoned every ounce of strength and determination, Soong lost the second to Tan 19-21.
Soong Joo Ven then took full advantage of the exhausted Tan Chun Seang in the decider, blew away his older opponent 21-9 to cruise to the final.
In other men’s singles semi-finals, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin showed off his strong form to win the first set against Goh Soon Huat with 25-23. Goh was forced out by injury after trailed 8-14 in the second set, allowing Iskandar to clinch the last men’s singles final berth in 42 minutes.
Lee Meng Yean/Vivian Hoo will be attempting to win the women’s doubles crown from Lim Yin Loo/Soong Fie Cho on Thursday, while two non-Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) men’s doubles pairs Mohd Arif Abdul Latif/Nur Mohd Azriyn Bin Ayub and Darren Isaac A/l Devadas/Vountus Indra Mawan will cross swords in the men’s doubles finals.