Amanda Khoo Pei Ling thrashes Nur Aiffa Tajeri at the National Junior Circuit Grand Prix Finals 2011
Malaysia’s Amanda Khoo Pei Ling has defeated Nur Aiffa Tajeri in the Girl’s Singles second-round of the 100Plus National Junior Circuit Grand Prix Finals 2011, being played at Bukit Kiara, Malaysia, on Thursday, May 19.
Amanda Khoo demonstrated a better game and won the match by a 21-16, 19-21 and 21-18 margin against Nur Aiffa, in a three-set fight that took 42 minutes of hard labour from both players.
In the opening set of the match, Amanda opened her campaign with a shaky start, as she made some easy mistakes in the starting points of the set. Nur Aiffa played a smart game in the beginning and reached at 9-6.
Amanda accelerated the pace of the rallies by moving fast in the court and managed to level the score, at 10-10. At the end of the opening half, Amanda was leading the game with a one-point lead at 11-10.
After the one-minute interval, Amanda played a safe game by controlling the rallies. Nur Aiffa could not break the momentum of her opponent and lost the opening set in 13 minutes, with a difference of 16-21.
In the following game, both girls remained toe-to-toe in the entire set and were tied at 15-15. Both shuttlers were playing a flawless game and progressed in the set quite slowly. The score was 19-19, when Nur Aiffa managed to score the remaining points and won the set 21-19, in 15 minutes.
In the deciding set of this interesting match, Amanda remained successful in building a reasonable lead of 11-8, in the opening half of the third set. Nur Aiffa recovered from a 3-point deficit by playing superb badminton. She was very quick in picking the bird early from all corners of the court. Her shot selection and execution was superb, which earned her a 14-13 lead.
At this crucial stage of the match, Amanda lifted her speed and became more aggressive. She started to employ powerful smashes on the side-lines, coupled with tumbling net strokes. The changed tactics worked well and she won the final game in 14 minutes, by a score of 21-18.
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