PETALING JAYA: Shuttlers Dania Sofea Zaidi-Low Zi Yu pulled off a huge upset over China’s top seeds Chen Fan Shutian-Liu Jia Yue to storm into the girls’ doubles final in the World Junior Championships.
Zi Yu, who is the youngest Malaysian in the team at only 14, combined superbly with Dania to come away with a hard fought 16-21, 21-16, 21-17 win in 71 minutes in Nanchang, China on Saturday (Oct 12).
The last Malaysians to reach the final in the girls’ doubles in the tournament were Pearly Tan-Toh Ee Wei, who won silver in the 2018 edition.
Dania-Zi Yum, who are unseeded and are competing in their first international tournament together, now have the opportunity to create history as the first girls’ doubles pair to capture the gold for the country.
Standing in their way in the final on Sunday (Oct 13) will be either Indonesian second seeds Isyana Syahira-Rinjani Kwinara or Japan’s fourth seeds Ririna Hiramoto-Aya Tamaki.