Indonesia Open: Lai’s Road to Redemption Continues
If Lai Pei Jing had suffered a tremendous blow outside the court earlier this week – she had lost “almost all her life savings” to online fraud – it was on court that she found some relief.
· DEV SUKUMAR
With the cloud of the misfortune hanging about her, Lai continued her stirring journey with Tan Kian Meng at the KAPAL API Indonesia Open 2024, as they made their first Super 1000 semifinal since last year’s China Open.
With Lai having posted about the setback earlier this week, the crowd seemed to get on the Malaysians’ side, lending them implicit support. To her credit, and despite all that she had gone through, Lai was in crackling touch on court, aided well by her partner. Quarterfinal opponents Kim Won Ho and Jeong Na Eun were outgunned in the first few minutes, going 1-11 down. The second game was a more even contest, but the Malaysians barely did a thing wrong, and booked their semifinal ticket with the 21-8 21-19 result.
“As you know, before I came to this tournament I had some personal issues, but I’m really happy my partner can understand me and keep supporting me during the match and then we trusted each other on every point and it’s very important that we made it,” said Lai.