Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif penetrates into Men’s Singles quarter-final of the 2011 Korea Open GP Gold
Malaysia’s emerging player, Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif proves his mettle as he has penetrated into Men’s Singles quarter-final after beating Korea’s Hoon Min Jung in the round-of-16 of the 2011 Korea Open GP Gold, in Korea, on Thursday, December 8.
Arif, who is currently placed and number 64 in the Men’s Singles world rankings and the 13th seed in the tournament, struggled really hard against Hoon Min and finally won the battle in three games by consuming 58 minutes in the court. The Korean
put up strong resistance but not well enough to get rid of the Malaysian.
The first game was mouth-watering when both shuttlers remained close until the ending points when the Korean played smartly and won the set with a narrow margin. In the following set, the Malaysian worked well and thrashed his local opponent to win the game
with a one-sided margin. In the final game, Arif remained on the right track and finished the game with a stunning margin.
Arif opened the first set in a relaxed way as he was relying on drives and moved his opponent in all corners of the court. However, the Korean was in no mood to drive the bird as he executed powerful smashes to dominate the rallies and put pressure on the
Malaysian.
Arif accelerated his speed to stop the aggression of the Korean. The score progressed tightly and reached at the ending points when the Malaysian committed a mistake and lost the set with a dramatic margin of 23-25.
Stung by the loss of the opening game, Arif bounce back in the second game by playing aggressive badminton and thrashed the Korean with a superb margin of 21-13. Hoon Min failed to stop the attacking play of the Malaysian and lost the set without putting
up strong resistance.
In the final set, the Malaysian continued his impressive play and finished it up in the similar manner by a wonderful margin of 21-12. This 58-minute contest ended up in three games with a 23-25, 21-13 and 21-12 margin.
In the quarter-final showdown, Arif will take on his team-mate Daren Liew, who defeated Young Woo Choi of Korea in the pre-quarter-final battle.
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