Goh-Izzuddin put heat on Indonesian pair to enter Arctic semis

izzudin goh sze fei — Malaysian professional badminton pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani took 72 minutes to overpower Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

Professional doubles shuttlers Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani continued their fine run at the 2024 Arctic Open by defeating Indonesian pair Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto to storm into the semi-finals.

The Malaysians ranked world No 8 in the BWF standings took 72 minutes to overpower the world No 6 rivals in three games 23-21, 19-21, 22-20 at the Energia Arena in Vantaa, Finland.

For Goh-Izzuddin, this is their third win against the powerful Indonesian pair after having played against them 10 times in international meetings.

They will play China’s world No 1 Liang Wei Keng–Wang Chang who dashed the hopes of Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun making an all-Malaysian semi-final. Man-Tee gave the top seeds a scare before bowing out 17-21, 21-16, 17-21 in a match that lasted more than an hour.

Another Malaysian pair, world No 10 Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai also qualified for tomorrow’s semi-final of the mixed doubles after defeating Hoo Pan Rong-Cheng Su Yin 21-19, 21-15 in an all-Malaysian encounter. Goh-Shevon will meet either Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningthas Mentari of Indonesia or Jiang Zhen Bang- Wei Ya Xin of China.

Goh-Izzuddin appear to be strong contenders for the Arctic title in the Super 500 series after their outstanding performances recently in winning the Super 750 series Japan Open and the Super 1000 China Open.

In the first game, Goh-Izzuddin displayed confidence to take an early 11-10 lead at the break in eight minutes. It then turned to a point-for-point battle with the Malaysians playing a superb defensive game forcing their opponents into errors.

However, the Indonesians who were down 12-17 at one point, staged a strong rally to take an 18-17 lead. Fajar-Muhammad raised their game to lead 20-19 but the gritty Malaysians saved match point and went on to win the game 23-21 in 24 minutes.

There was very little separating the two pairs in the second game as the Malaysians led by a point or two all the way until they led comfortably at 11-8 at the break. The Indonesian pair fought back to take the lead at 16-13 as Goh-Izzuddin made some unforced errors before winning 21-19 in 23 minutes.

Goh-Izzuddin took an early 6-3 lead in the rubber game before being ahead 11-5 at the changeover in 10 minutes. The Malaysians gave up three match points at 20-17 before winning 22-20 in 25 minutes.

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Goh-Izzuddin put heat on Indonesian pair to enter Arctic semis

The world No 8 had to work very hard to overcome the higher ranked Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto 23-21, 19-21, 22-20 in a pulsating quarter-final.