Malaysian Shuttlers Come Close To A Clean Sweep In The Youth Games

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia came close to a clean sweep on the badminton courts before settling for four out of the five gold medals at stake at the Commonwealth Youth Games at the Isle of Man on Sunday.

The mixed doubles pair of Teo Ee Yi-Chow Mei Kuan gave Malaysia the first gold medal when they came back from a game down to beat India’s K. Srikanth-K. Maneesha 18-21, 21-16, 21-8.

Mei Kuan then partnered Lee Meng Yean to deliver the second gold by beating Sonia Cheah-Yang Li Lian in an all-Malaysian girls’ doubles final.

The third gold came courtesy of reigning world junior champions Ee Yi-Nelson Heg, who beat England’s Ryan McCarthy-Tom Wolfenden 24-22, 21-16 in the boys’ doubles.

Victory pose: The national junior shuttlers showing off the medals won in the Commonwealth Youth Games badminton competition in the Isle of Man. Malaysia won a haul of four gold, two silver and one bronze medal.

Zulfadli Zulkifli, carrying an injury on his right leg, then lived up to expectations as the Asian junior champion by defeating India’s Sameer Verma 21-16, 17-21, 21-15 for Malaysia’s fourth gold medal.

It could have been a clean sweep but Sonia failed to get the better of India’s Pursala Sindhu in the girls’ singles final, losing 20-22, 8-21.

There was also a bronze medal through the mixed doubles pair of Nelson-Meng Yean, who beat England’s Ryan McCarthy-Emily Westwood 21-14, 21-10.

The four-gold haul also surpassed Malaysia’s three-gold effort in the previous edition in 2008, in which badminton contributed two gold medals.

National junior coach Yap Kim Hock was pleased with his charges’ efforts.

“The seven-medal haul is quite unexpected. Our job here is now complete but the next challenge for the junior shuttlers will be the World Junior Championships in Taiwan in November,” said Kim Hock.

Meanwhile, Malaysia finished empty-handed in both cycling and swimming.

In cycling, Ju Pha Som Net finished 11th in the women’s criterium race while Hamdan Hamidun was 24th in the men’s event.

In swimming, Tern Jian Han finished sixth in the men’s 200m butterfly while Erika Kong finished last in the women’s 200m breaststroke.