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2024 review: 3 biggest wins by Malaysians on the World Tour circuit
The 2024 BWF World Tour was a successful year for the Malaysian contingent, many of whom went far in their events. Stadium Astro highlights three of the biggest victories by the Malaysian shuttlers on the World Tour circuit.
Lee Zii Jia beats Kodai Naraoka to win Australian Open
Fresh off winning the Thailand Open and finishing second at the Malaysia Masters, Lee went to Sydney to compete in his final World Tour event before the Paris Olympics.
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His aim was to get as much of a competitive feel before the Olympics, where he was targeting a historic gold medal for the country.
He faced Japan’s Naraoka in the final and battled the then world number six for 78-minutes before etching out a 21-19, 11-21, 21-18 victory.
That victory gave him the confidence to go on and secure a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin stun top South Korean pair to win Japan Open
Right after the Olympics, all the talk was about how Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik secured their second consecutive bronze medal after a stunning comeback win.
But Goh-Izzuddin turned the headlines on them with a fine straight game success over South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae to clinch the Japan Open title, which was their biggest career title at that time.
The Malaysian pair proved that victory was no fluke, as they went on to win the Arctic Open and China Open titles after that, and ended the year with a silver medal at the World Tour Finals.
Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah win Hong Kong Open for first title in two years
Tan-Thinaah were riding high on their performance at the Paris Olympics which saw them make history by becoming the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to reach the semi-finals.
After Paris, the Malaysians reached the Korea Open final but lost to a home pair.
Undeterred, they maintained the same battling performance and reached the Hong Kong Open final where they faced China’s Tan Ning-Liu Sheng Siu.
Tan-Thinaah displayed one of their finest performances of the year to beat the fancied world number two pair 21-14, 21-14 for the title.
That win also marked their first silverware on the World Tour circuit in two years.
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