Kuala Lumpur: Two Malaysian pairs – Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Mohd Rumsani (men’s doubles) and Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah (women’s doubles) – overcame their Taiwanese opponents in contrasting fashion to march into the semi-finals of the Japan Masters 2025 at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium on Friday.
In the men’s doubles quarter-finals, the second-seeded Malaysians had to toil for a 21-16, 10-21, 21-16 win over Lee Jhe-Huei-Yang Po-Hsuan. The reward for the national professional pair is a semi-final date against Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa-Kyohei Yamashita.
In the women’s last eight match, Pearly-Thinaah disposed of Hsu Yin-Hui-Lin Jhih Yun 21-13, 21-17 and will take on either Japan’s Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto or Taiwan’s Hu Ling Fang-Jheng Yu Chieh in the last four.
It was, however, the end of the road for the other two national men’s doubles combinations, with Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King and Choong Hon Jian-Muhammad Haikal Nazri crashing out in the quarter-finals.
Wan Arif-Roy King went down 19-21, 14-21 to Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa-Kyohei Yamashita, while Hon Jian-Muhammad Haikal fell 16-21, 16-21 to Taiwan’s Chiu Hsiang Chieh-Wang Chi-Lin.
In women’s singles, national ace Wong Ling Ching, who stunned Canadian Michelle Li on Thursday, was sent packing 17-21, 9-21 by Thailand’s Ratchanok Itanon in the quarter-finals on Friday.