Zulfadli Zulkiffli faces Joshi Pratul in quarter-final of Badminton Asia Youth U-19 Championships
Malaysian junior ace shuttler, Zulfadli Zulkiffli advanced to meet India’s Joshi Pratul in the Men’s Singles quarter-final, after crushing China’s Xue Song in the pre-quarter-final of the 2011 Badminton Asia Youth U-19 Championships, at Lucknow, India, on
Thursday, July 7.
Zulfadli, who is the second seed in the Men’s Singles draw of the tournament, kept his winning run going as he defeated the talented Chinese shuttler in a remarkable manner. The Malaysian took 40 minutes of court time to send Song packing by beating him
in a straight-set match.
The Malaysian shuttler, who failed to perform well in the team event matches in this championship, raised his level of play in the individual fights and reserved his berth in the top-8 of the event. His impressive performance indicates that he is one of
the top contenders for the Men’s Singles title in the event.
In the first game of the pre-quarter-final match, the Malaysian opened his campaign in remarkable fashion, as he played perfect badminton against the Chinese, who was playing a shaky game. Until the interval in the opening set, Zulfadli was leading the game
by a decent gap of 11-8.
After the break, he continued his power-play and maintained the difference of points throughout the whole set by working really hard. He bagged the first game with a margin of 21-16, in just 16 minutes.
The following set was one of the most entertaining fights of the day, as the two talented shuttlers were playing to their full potential. The huge crowd could not have expected for a better match, as both players were employing everything they had in their
possession. Song raised the level of his game and remained close throughout the set.
The score was tied until the concluding phase of the match, where Zulfadli played some fascinating down the line strokes and ended the second set with a 23-21 margin, in 24 minutes. The 40-minute fight finished with the victory of the Malaysian by a margin
of 21-16 and 23-21.
In the quarter-final, Zulfadli will be up against local player, Joshi Pratul, who crushed Indonesia’s Rhustavito Shesar Hiren in their round-of-16 clash.
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