KUALA LUMPUR: Professional pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi showed that they are far from being a fading force after becoming the sole Malaysian survivors at the Kumamoto Masters Japan today.
The world No. 12 stormed into the semi-finals, their third on the World Tour this season, by defeating Taiwan's Lee Fang Chih-Lee Fang Jen 21-19, 21-16.
The result provided Yew Sin-Ee Yi with a much-needed boost following a stretch of lacklustre results in the last six months, following their commendable runners-up finish at the Asia Championships in April.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi will bid to reach their first World Tour final in a year when they take on China's Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi next.
Interestingly, the last time Yew Sin-Ee Yi made the final, at the Australian Open exactly 12 months ago, it was Yu Chen-Xuan Yi who denied them a title.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi are desperate for strong results to keep their Paris Olympics qualification hopes alive. They are currently ranked 11th in the Race to Paris standings, although they have been well-placed in the top eight since the start of the one-year qualifying period in May.
Meanwhile, it was the end of the road for women's doubles Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah while mixed doubles pairs Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing also bit the dust.
Pearly-Thinaah found their match in world No. 14 Rena Miyaura-Ayako Sakuramoto, losing 21-13, 21-18.
Tang Jie-Ee Wei continued to find it hard to compete against a world's top-five pair as they went down 21-14, 21-14 to world No. 1 Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong.
Kian Meng-Pei Jing again found Japan's Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino too hot to handle. They fell to the world No. 2 21-15, 21-16, their seventh defeat in a row.