KUALA LUMPUR – It was a display of sportsmanship and perseverance at the 2022 Indonesian Open men’s doubles quarter-finals between Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Indonesia’s Pramudya Kusumawardana-Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan.
The national men’s duo are through to the semi-finals tomorrow, winning 14-21, 21-12, 22-20, but the highlight was the persistent performance by Yeremia Rambitan who injured his left knee in the third set when they held the match point, 18-20.
Despite the injury, he mustered up the strength to fight on, but it was not easy as he was limping for the remainder of the match.
This gave Aaron-Soh the chance to catch up and eventually win the game, but the last four points were played with sportsmanship in mind as the national pair did not direct the shuttle toward the injured Yeremia, but instead to his teammate Pramudya.
Yeremia was eventually taken off the court in a wheelchair at the end, but the Indonesian crowd cheered him on, proud of the determination he showed.
Meanwhile, world number five Lee Zii Jia made it through to the semi-finals tomorrow after beating neighbour Loh Kean Yew from Singapore 21-18, 16-21, 22-20.
Zii Jia took the first set despite Kean Yew staying close behind. But in the second set, Kean Yew played aggressively and forced mistakes from Zii jia, leading to a third set showdown.
The third set was nail-biting as it went back-and-forth with both shuttlers fighting hard to make it through, but it was Zii Jia who came out on top to take the game in an hour and five minutes.
He will either face world number one Viktor Axelsen or Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the semi-finals tomorrow.
In the Indonesian Masters last week, Zii Jia exited the tournament in the quarter-finals after losing to Ginting.
In the earlier matches, mixed doubles pair Hoo Pang Ron-Toh Ee Wei exited the tournament in the quarter-finals after they lost against world number six South Korean duo Seo Seung Jae-Chae Yu Jung 21-16, 21-17
Also ending their campaign were mixed doubles team Chen Tang Jie-Valeree Siow after being taken down by fourth seed Wang Yi Lyu-Huang Dong Ping of China 21-12, 21-14. – The Vibes, June 17, 2022