Gold Coast: Malaysia and England to set up a Commonwealth Games mixed team semi-final showdown Sunday while India and Singapore will meet each other in the top half for their bid to reach the final.
In Saturday’s quarter-final tie against Scotland, Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying managed to fend off a spirited challenge from Adam Hall/Julie MacPherson, after the Rio Olympic mixed doubles pair produced a fine performance to beat the England pair 14-21, 21-18, 21-15.
Lee Chong Wei then won the men’s singles match by beating Kieran Merrilees 21-14, 21-7 to give Malaysia a 2-0 lead over Scotland before Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia sealed the victory over Scotland by outlasting Alexander Dunn/Adam Hall 21-10, 21-15.
Malaysia will face England in the semi-final on Saturday. These two teams had faced each other in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games mixed team final, where Malaysia defeated England 3-1 to clinch the gold.
Meanwhile, England beat Canada 3-0 in the other quarter-final with Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis got off to a strong start by overcoming Jason Ho-shue/Nyl Yakura in the men’s doubles match, before Chloe Birch pulled off a huge upset to dismantle the 2014 Commonwealth Games women’s singles champion Michelle Li 21-15, 12-21, 21-15.
“I knew if I kept my speed and played quicker, I could win the match against Michelle,” said Birch.
Rajiv Ouseph of England then claimed the win for England by overcoming Brian Yang 21-17, 21-14 in the men’s singles match.
Meanwhile, India beat Mauritius 3-0 while Singapore registered a 3-0 win over Australia to set up a semi-final meeting on Sunday.
“I think Singapore have been playing really well, so we cannot underestimate them, and we need to be play our best,” said Kidambi Srikanth of India.
