Jason Teh slides into Thailand Masters semi-finals
A decision to play through the Chinese New Year festivities has paid off for Singapore’s Jason Teh, who has slid into his fifth semi-final on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour in five months.
The 30th-ranked Singaporean, who is seeking to rise up the world rankings, beat South Korea’s world No. 35 Jeon Hyeok-jin 21-13, 21-18 in the quarter-finals of the US$240,000 (S$325,000) Thailand Masters, a BWF World Tour Super 300 event, in Bangkok on Jan 31.
The 24-year-old will take on Ireland’s 42nd-ranked Nhat Nguyen at the Nimibutr Stadium on Feb 1 for a place in the final the next day.
As the highest-ranked player remaining in the men’s singles draw, fourth seed Teh has the opportunity to win his first international title and snap a wretched run of seven successive losses in finals.
He said: “I just want to play my best and go as far as I can in every tournament.
“I think it’s necessary for me to give up Chinese New Year celebrations with family and friends because badminton comes first for me now.
“There will be many opportunities to celebrate Chinese New Year in the future.”
The other semi-final, an all-China affair, will be between world No. 39 Wang Zhengxing and 169th-ranked Zhu Xuanchen, who came through the qualifiers.
Teh was explosive from the start against Jeon, a 2014 Asian Games men’s team and 2017 Sudirman Cup mixed team winner, showcasing his variety of devastating smashes and pinpoint placements.
He was also able to capitalise on his opponent’s unforced errors to build a handy 13-4 lead.
The 29-year-old South Korean managed to get within four points at 16-12, but Teh stopped the blip.
While long rallies were few and far in between, he displayed good mental strength to win a 23-shot exchange en route to claiming the first game on his second game-point.
It was a similar story in the second game as the Singaporean raced to 14-6 before Jeon won eight out of the next nine points to trail by just one.
But Teh continued to patiently construct smashing opportunities and never allowed his opponent to draw level, as he recorded his first win over Jeon in three meetings.
“I was rushing a bit today and Vega (Nirwanda), my coach in my corner at this tournament, told me to stay calm and be patient. We did a great job to communicate and achieve victory.”
In the earlier rounds, he had beaten Israel’s 64th-ranked Misha Zilberman and Indonesia’s 159th-ranked Zaki Ubaidillah.
Teh had a strong end to 2024, making it to the finals of the Super 300 Macau Open and Syed Modi International and Malaysia Super 100 event.
But he fell at the final hurdle on each occasion.
Since then, he has adapted well to the higher-ranked tournaments in 2025, winning his first match at the Super 750 level at the India Open and making it to his first Super 500 quarter-final at the Indonesia Masters.
National singles head coach Kim Ji-hyun, who also oversees the Singapore Badminton Association’s men’s singles players after originally being hired as its women’s singles head coach, said: “Kudos to Jason for keeping a level head in today’s match, being patient and striking at the right moments.
“He had solid cross-court smashes but gave away a few free points as he was not able to concentrate throughout the entire match.
“He needs to be focused in every single point tomorrow.”
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