The race to Genting is heating up as defending champions Puchong United Badminton Club (PUBC) regained the SS Purple League's (SSPL) top spot from overnight leaders Petaling Badminton Club (Petaling BC) on Thursday.

They secured a 13-8 win against Bandar Maharani Badminton Club (BMBC) on Day 11 Stage 1 SSPL 2018/19 at the Gem In Mall, Cyberjaya.

PUBC continued where they left off in 2018 to put a stranglehold on this edition of the SSPL with one more tie left to play in Stage 1, against Petaling BC on Sunday.

The winners of the encounter will most likely decide the identity of one of the teams filling up the top two automatic qualifying spots for the finals at the Arena of Stars, Resorts World Genting.



Playing without stalwart Goh Giap Chin, who was still down with fever, PUBC still had enough fuel in the tank to win all four of their matches before sacrificing their final men’s singles match to BMBC.

World number six Lee Cheuk Yiu from Hong Kong opened proceedings with a 3-1 win (8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8) against Lim Chong King in the men’s singles.

Up and coming national junior Ho Yen Mei then extended PUBC’s lead to 6-3 with a 3-2 victory (11-3, 9-11, 11-2, 7-11, 11-2) over Yap Yee in the women’s singles.

Former national player Tan Boon Heong then continued his fine run in the SSPL, partnering Ong Yew Sin to devastating effect in overcoming local pair Wong Tien Ci-Yap Roy King 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-7) to increase PUBC’s advantage to 9-3.

Previously, Tan won all four of his matches by playing alongside Ong’s regular partner, Teo Ee Yi.

Mixed doubles pair Lim Khim Wah-Ng Tsz Yau then made sure of the overall victory with a hard fought 3-2 win (11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 11-10) over Razlan Shah Ridzuan Shah-Yap Rui Chen for an unassailable 12-5 scoreline.

Tan Kian Meng, who usually partners Lai Pei Jing in the mixed doubles for the national squad, had to be drafted in for emergency duty in the final men’s single and lost 1-3 (5-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9) to junior shuttler Ng Jun Yan for BMBC’s consolation win.

"It is an open secret that our men’s singles player, Goh Giap Chin, is still sick. He was down with fever when he played in the match [against Serdang BC] previously.

"We were playing last, so we could make our decision accordingly whether to put him in the line-up or not [against Petaling BC],” said PUBC manager Irina Nozemtseva.

In a later match, star-studded Ampang Jaya Badminton Club (AJBC) overcame a loss in the opening and final men’s singles matches represented by Tan Jia Wei and Lee Zii Jia to win 11-7 against Bukit Mertajam All Stars Badminton Club (BMASBC).

AJBC secured their points through national number one women’s singles Goh Jin Wei, Chooi Kah Ming-Lukhi Apri Nugroho (men’s doubles) and Chan Peng Soon-Shevon Lai Jemie (mixed doubles).

Their win, which was their sixth in a row, was not enough to dislodge PUBC at the top but with two teams qualifying automatically for Genting, it was still satisfactory for manager Ho Khek Mong as he saw his team tighten their grip on second place with one more match to play.



"We are still confident of maintaining our position in the top two. For me, we have done our best, even though we were targeting a clean sweep.

"Our men’s singles were lacking experience in handling the pressure. The Purple League is a good platform for the youngsters to play against experienced players.

"We at Ampang Jaya are proud to give them the opportunity to young players to play against world class players," added Ho.

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