(Badminton) Beatriz, Jin Wei, out of Malaysia Masters, Ying Ying makes it through
FABIAN PETER
SIBU: Being in the same country as reigning Olympic and World Champion Carolina Marin is never easy.
For Europe’s No 2 women’s singles Beatriz Corrales, moving to Milan from Madrid seven months ago was the best move to help her improve in the sport of badminton.
The 25-year-old Spaniard revealed that unequal treatment at the Spanish Badminton Federation forced her to decide on the move, although she ruled out the possibility of switching nationality.
“I had to move because all the attention is on Carolina and the training environment is just not good anymore.
“The move was something which was agreed upon by the Spanish Badminton Federation and the Italian Badminton Federation.
“I am quite happy because I get to train with the Italian national players and both my coaches there are Spanish. Arthuro Ruiz is the Italian head coach while my second coach Javier Gallego is also there.
“Communication has been great and I aim to break into the world top 15 hopefully by the end of this season,” said Beatriz who is currently ranked 23.
Today, the third seeded Beatriz crashed out of the ongoing Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold in Sibu, Sarawak after suffering a shocking 21-16, 19-21, 22-20 defeat to Indonesia’s Dinar Dyah Ayustine in the second round.
“It’s like that sometimes especially when you play in a closely contested match. It’s okay because back in Europe it’s hard to play in competitive matches like this.
Meanwhile, national No 1 Goh Jin Wei also crashed out of the tournament after suffering a 21-12, 21-10 defeat to Taiwan’s Lee Chia Hsin in a match that barely lasted 30 minutes.
The 17-year-old, who was already carrying an injury prior to the Malaysia Masters was reduced to tears as she now fears the possibility of missing the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships in Ho Chi Minh in February.
“I made it through the first round as my opponent was not really strong. I didn’t want to give up because there is no sportsmanship in doing that.
“I knew the second round was going to be tough and I was already feeling the pain. I just played on till the match ended.
“I just hope to recover in time for the mixed team meet in Vietnam,” said a distraught Jin Wei, who had clinched the Malaysia Games gold medal at the Sibu Indoor Stadium last year.
It wasn’t an entirely bad day in women’s singles, as Jin Wei’s teammate Lee Ying Ying continued her fine form to reach the quarter-finals with a 21-8, 21-8 upset of Taiwan’s Hsu Ya Ching.
Ying Ying, who played second fiddle to Jin Wei at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Peru, will take on fifth seed Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong next.
Malaysia’s interest in men’s singles, also came to an end on Thursday as Tan Jia Wei lost 21-18, 21-10 to Indonesia’s Muhammad Bayu Pangisthu in the third round, while independent shuttler Chong Wei Feng bowed out in straight games 21-15, 23-21 to another Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
In mixed doubles, national No 2 Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie both checked into the quarter-finals with convincing wins in the second round.
Men’s doubles Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, women’s doubles Lim Yin Loo-Yap Cheng Wen and Vivian Hoo Kah Mun-Chow Mei Kuan are the other Malaysians who will feature in Friday’s quarter-finals.