THAILAND MASTERS: WONG-GOH SET UP ALL-MALAYSIAN SEMI-FINALS IN WOMEN'S SINGLES

By Kenny Teng Khoon Hock

BANGKOK, Jan 30 (Bernama) -- National women’s singles players Wong Ling Ching and Goh Jin Wei kept Malaysia’s challenge alive at the Thailand Masters 2026 after advancing to the semi-finals at Nimibutr Stadium here today.

In the quarter-finals of the Super 300 tournament, world number 42 Wong produced a spirited comeback to defeat India’s Isharani Baruah 18-21, 21-16, 21-13 in a one-hour-and-four-minute encounter, while former two-time world junior champion Goh, currently ranked world number 68, overcame Malaysia’s national number 1 women’s singles player K Letshanaa 12-21, 21-17, 21-19 in 55 minutes.

Wong and Goh will face each other in tomorrow’s semi-final, guaranteeing Malaysia a place in Sunday’s final.

“I am very happy with today’s performance. It was a satisfying match as both of us gave our best. I did not set any specific target for this tournament and only hoped to achieve a better result,” Wong told Bernama after her match today, adding that she was pleased with her performance despite committing several unforced errors.

Looking ahead to the semi-final, Wong said she had never played against Goh before but expected a tough match due to her opponent’s experience.

Earlier, professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia was forced to retire in the third game after sustaining injuries to his finger and leg while trailing tournament second seed Alwi Farhan of Indonesia. The score stood at 21-10, 15-21 at the time of retirement.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s men’s doubles pairs also bowed out of the tournament today.

Chia Weijie–Lwi Sheng Hao fell to Indonesia’s world number 16 Leo Rolly Carnando–Bagas Maulana 21-11, 21-16, while Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub–Tan Wee Kiong lost 21-13, 21-14 to China’s world number 72 Hu Ke Yuan–Lin Xiang Yi.

-- BERNAMA