World Tour Finals: Tang Jie-Ee Wei pass to semis, Pearly-Thinaah pack bags early

National mixed doubles pair sailed through in 49 minutes beating Indonesia while women’s doubles pair stopped in their tracks by India

National mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei (pic) made it to the semi-finals of the World Tour Finals after defeating Indonesian pair Dejan Febrinansyah and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja. – Scoop file pic, December 12, 2024

KUALA LUMPUR – No sweat for national mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei as they defeated Indonesia’s Dejan Febrinansyah and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja to make it to the semi-finals of the World Tour Finals (WTF) at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre today.  

It took the pair 49 minutes to win the match 21-17, 21-18.  

At the same time, professional mixed doubles team Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Lai kept their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals alive after defeating the Japanese pair Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito 21-14, 21-14 earlier today.  

However, national women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah will be heading home early after their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals were dashed by India’s Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand today.  

The match, which took place at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre, saw the world’s sixth-ranked pair fall to Treesa and Gayatri 19-21, 19-21 in 46 minutes.  

This was Pearly and Thinaah’s second defeat in the tournament after also losing to the Japanese pair Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida 21-13, 17-21, 18-21 in their first match yesterday.  

Awaiting Pearly and Thinaah in their next match in Group A are tournament seeds Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning from China, who have already secured their semi-final ticket after winning two consecutive matches.  

Only the top two pairs from each group will qualify for the semi-finals in this season’s tournament. – December 12, 2024