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Former champ ends Yeo Jia Min's stirring run at Badminton World Championships

2019 Badminton World Championships - St. Jakobshalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland - August 22, 2019   Singapore's Yeo Jia Min in action during her third round women's singles match against Vietnam's Thi Trang Vu   REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
Singapore shuttler Yeo Jia Min at the Badminton World Championships in Basel, Switzerland. (PHOTO: Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann)

SINGAPORE — Yeo Jia Min’s stirring run at the Badminton World Championships finally came to an end on Friday (23 August) at the hands of a former world champion.

Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, who was the youngest-ever singles world champion when she won the women’s singles title at age 18 in 2013, proved an obstacle too far for Yeo, winning the quarter-final tie 21-17, 21-11 in 41 minutes.

“I think today my movements were slower than Ratchanok’s, and my shot quality is not high enough to pressure her, so she was controlling me easily,” Yeo said after her defeat.

Despite the loss, Yeo has already achieved the best-ever performance by a Singaporean shuttler in the women’s singles competition of the World Championships, by virtue of making the quarter-finals.

The 20-year-old had defeated Vietnam’s Vu Thi Trang in a gruelling 21-15, 14-21, 21-16 round-of-16 victory on Thursday that lasted 72 minutes.

She had also caused a huge upset in the round-of-32 when she defeated the world No. 1 shuttler Akane Yamaguchi, who was far from her best after suffering a recent hip injury.

Ronald Susilo was the only other Singaporean singles player to ever reach the World Championships quarter-finals, achieved at the 2007 Kuala Lumpur men’s singles competition. He also failed to advance, losing to China’s Chen Yu.

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