KUALA LUMPUR: It was heartbreak for men’s singles shuttler Chong Wei Feng but Lydia Cheah finally landed her first senior international title at the Vietnam Challenge in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday.
Back-up shuttler Wei Feng was on the brink of winning his first international title outside of the country when he took an 11-4 and 20-17 lead in the rubber game of the final against top seed Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam but the Malaysian Satellite champion went down 21-17, 10-21, 24-26.
Sweet victory: Lydia Cheah defeated Hung Shih-han of Taiwan to win her first senior international women’s singles title.
Team manager How Kim Tho said in a telephone interview: “It should have been Wei Feng’s day but he ended up with a heartbreaking defeat.
“He lost a little focus after the interval of the deciding game and found difficulties to adapt to the draught in the hall.
“Tien Minh enjoyed good support from his home fans and it was encouraging to see Wei Feng putting up a great fight.”
Lydia finally got rid of her choker’s tag in the women’s singles final, beating Taiwanese Hung Shih-han 22-20, 21-15.
Malaysia also won two other titles through Hong Chieng Hun-Ng Kean Kok and Lim Khim Wah-Ng Hui Lin in the all-Malaysian men’s doubles and mixed doubles finals respectively.