PASIR GUDANG: 19-year-old Soo Teck Zhi – the former Asian Junior champion, upset professional player Mohd Arif Abdul Latif, 21-12, 21-15, with a lot of aggressive shots, to reach the men’s singles quarter-finals in the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold.
Yesterday, Arif was the one who created an upset by beatting top seed Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand.
Teck Zhi will face former world No. 3 Simon Santoso of Indonesia on the next round.
“Give me another one or two years, I hope I can be the next Lee Chong Wei by then” said the fearless Teck Zhi.
On the other hand, another Malaysia shuttler – second seed Chong Wei Feng had to give everything he had to fend off the fiery opponent from Singapore’s Derek Wong Zi Liang for 56 minutes for a 21-16, 13-21, 21-19 win.
Wei Feng said: “Derek played exceptionally well today. I have not seen him in this form for some time. It was a tough battle today.”
On the same day, another Malaysia shuttler, Goh Soon Huat went down tamely to Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan 16-21, 12-21.
In the women’s singles, Tee Jing Yi continued to keep the flag flying when she made it to the quarter-finals with a sensational 21-17, 21-18 win over Sayaka Sato of Japan. She will meet Hsu Ya-ching of Taiwan next round.
