KUALA LUMPUR: Men’s doubles pair Javen Choong and Wong Qi Shen did Malaysia proud after winning a historic bronze medal at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Kazakhstan yesterday.
The unheralded duo, ranked No. 187 in the world, defeated South Korea’s Jang Woo-jin-Cho Dae-seong 11-9, 10-12, 13-11, 11-6 in the round-of-16 before going on to pull off what was arguably the upset of the tournament.
They faced China’s world No. 1 pair of Lin Shidong-Lin Gaoyuan in the quarterfinals and dug deep before clinching an 11-8, 2-11, 0-11, 11-8, 11-7 shock win over the outright favourites.
Javen-Qi Shen’s campaign, however, came to an end in the semi-finals where they lost to Singapore’s Koen Pang-Izaac Quek (world No.16) 11-8, 11-3, 11-5.
