Having come close to his first international badminton title a month ago, Singapore’s Jason Teh will get another bite at the cherry when he competes in the Malaysia Super 100 final on Oct 20.
The world No. 41, who finished runner-up at the Macau Open in September, came from behind to beat Japan’s 53rd-ranked Riku Hatano 8-21, 21-18, 21-11 in the semi-finals at Stadium Juara in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 19.
He will be vying with Chinese Taipei’s 33rd-ranked Chi Yu-jen for the men’s singles crown, after the top seed defeated Japan’s fourth-seeded Koo Takahashi 26-24, 21-8 in the other semi-final.
On reaching another final, third seed Teh said: “I feel humbled and happy… because that means that my training worked well and that I’m on the right path, and I’ll keep working hard and hope there will be many more to come.
“I’ll rest and recover well and give my all tomorrow. (Chi) is a very strong opponent and I know him as a friend off the court as well and we’ll put up a fight on the court.”
In their only previous meeting, Chi defeated the Singaporean 21-15, 21-16 in the round of 32 of the Syed Modi India International in November 2023 en route to clinching the title, his last on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) world tour.
The 27-year-old Taiwanese had also come close to winning a title last month but finished second to Lin Chun-yi at the Taipei Open after overcoming highest-ranked compatriot Chou Tien-chen in the semi-finals.
En route to the Malaysia final, Teh beat India’s world No. 78 S. Subramanian in the round of 32, Indonesia’s Ikhsan Rumbay (99th) in the round of 16 and Thailand’s Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul (65th) in the quarter-finals.
In the semi-finals, the 24-year-old felt that he could not adapt quick enough to Hatano’s shots and speed as he lost the first game.
Racing to a 6-1 lead, Hatano’s quicker reflexes put Teh under the cosh. The 23-year-old Japanese wasted little time stretching his lead to 16-5 before winning 21-8.
National training squad coach Taufiq Hidayat felt that Teh was “a little bit slow and at times impatient” in the first game and could not cope with Hatano’s speed of play.
“In the second set, I told Jason to be more patient and be brave to challenge his opponent. I think his mental strength improved significantly over the last few tournaments,” said Hidayat.
The Singaporean started the second game stronger, gaining a 3-1 lead. Hatano soon found his feet to take the lead at 4-3, but Teh reclaimed the advantage and stretched it to 12-8.
While the Japanese reeled in four straight points to lead 16-15, Teh’s response was to claim the next five, making it 20-16 before sealing a 21-18 win.
The start of the third game mirrored the second as Teh took a 3-1 lead, which soon stretched to 9-4 with Hatano fading away as the match wore on.
Capitalising on his opponent’s poor positioning with several smashes, Teh extended his advantage to 16-7 and secured his comeback victory by winning 21-11.
Taufik added: “(Teh) is learning and improving day by day. For tomorrow’s match, we will fight hard and give our all on the court.”
Meanwhile, Singapore representation at the Denmark Open ended, as world No. 11 Loh Kean Yew lost 21-18, 15-21, 24-22 to French teenager and world No. 21 Alex Lanier in their men’s singles quarter-final on Oct 18.
Lanier, 19, faced Japan’s world No. 13 Koki Watanabe on Oct 19 for a place in the final of the Super 750 tournament in Odense, with the result unavailable at press time.
