Kuala Lumpur: On Tuesday afternoon, Klang United BC suffered another loss in the Purple League, this time to the Petaling Jaya BC despite superb performances from Simon Santoso and Derek Wong.
In the first men’s singles match, Indonesian Simon Santoso had little problem taming Woon Kok Hong of Petaling Jaya BC 11-1, 9-11, 11-10, 11-5 in 39 minutes.
However, Klang United’s women’s singles, first men’s doubles, mixed doubles that followed soon after Simon Santoso all lost in straight sets to their Petaling Jaya BC opponents respectively.
Derek Wong who lost to Chong Wei Feng in the previous tie against Kepong BC, played more confidently on Tuesday to dispatch Yogendran Krishnan of Petaling Jaya BC 4-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 in 33 minutes.
“I’ve played Yogendran many times, his has killer net shots, that’s why I deliberately avoiding the net play with him today,” said Derek.
Petaling Jaya BC finished the tie with 14-6 victory against Klang United.
Klang United BC are currently hanging onto the eighth spot in Purple League rankings after the tie. Only the top eight teams can clinch a post-season Champions Challenge berth that will be held in Genting Highlands from Feb 5-8.
In another tie that started at 7pm, world number 8 Japanese shuttler Kenichi Tago who replaced Lee Chong Wei for Petaling BC, continued his impressive play with straight sets win over Malaysian champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli of Bangsar Hawks at 11-9, 11-8, 11-1 in 36 minutes.
Petaling BC ended the night with their third straight win by routing the winless Bangsar Hawk 18-5.
The 6-game losing streak saw Bangsar Hawk fell to the last spot of the latest Purple League rankings.
