KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 — The national badminton squad kicked off their campaign with mixed fortunes when only two out of five pairs advanced to the next round of the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium in Lucknow, India yesterday.
Malaysia’s top men’s doubles pair, Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong advanced to the second round after edging Hirokatsu Hashimoto/Noriyasu Hirata of Japan, winning 21-14, 21-12 in the opening tie.
Goh/Tan however, face a tough task against former world champion, Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol in the next round after the South Korean pair defeated the host pair, Manu Attri/B. Sumeeth Reddy, winning 21-18, 21-16 in another first round match.
The only Malaysian representative in the mixed doubles event, Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying also made a good start after disposing Bhaskar Chakraborty/Rachita Sahdev of India, winning 21-18,21-15 in the opening tie.
Meanwhile, former 2010 World Championships runner-up, Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong was knocked out from the tournament after losing 9-21, 21-17 and 16-21 to the third seed, Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding of Denmark.
Malaysia’s campaign in the women’s doubles event ended after two pairs — Vivian Hoo Kah Mun/Woon Khe Wei and Amelia Alicia Anscelly/Soong Fie Cho — went down to their respective opponents in the opening match.
Hoo/Woon who are seeded fourth, suffered a shocking 18-21, 21-16 and 13-21 defeat to Thailand’s unheralded pair, Puttita Supajirakul/Sapsiree Taerattanachai in the opening tie while Amelia/Soong who are the 2015 Singapore SEA Games gold medallists lost 13-21, 25-23, 18-21 to Du Yue/Li Yinhui of China.
In tonight’s second round match, former 2011 world junior champion, Zulfadli Zulkiffli advanced to third round after stunning third seeds, Son Wan Ho of South Korea, winning 21-19, 21-13 in the men’s singles event.
Zulfadli had earlier, dislodged Wibowo Kho Henrikho of Indonesia, 21-9, 21-10 in the opening tie played in the afternoon session.
National backup shuttler, Goh Soon Huat also pulled off a suprise after edging eighth seed, Japanese veteran Sho Sasaki, winning 21-18, 21-10. Goh, prior to this defeated India’s shuttler, Aditya Prakash, 21-11, 21-12 in the opening match.
Also making it to the next round are national champion, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin who was given a tough fight by Misha Zilberman of Israel before chalking up a 21-15, 24-22 win.
Iskandar Zulkarnain, who recently emerged runner-up in the Malaysia Masters GP Gold tournament in Penang, had earlier disposed R. M. V. Gurusaidutt of India, 21-10, 21-17 in the opening tie.
Luck however, was not on the side of another Malaysian player, Soong Joo Ven after losing 18-21, 14-21 to the top seed, K. Srikanth of India in the second round match.
Soong, prior to this defeated Wang Tzu Wei of Taiwan, 21-18, 21-17 in the opening encounter.
World junior champion Goh Jin Wei, on the other hand, emerged as Malaysia’s only survivor as two other shuttlers crashed out from the tournament after losing to their respective opponents in tonight’s opening tie of the women’s singles event.
Jin Wei, 15, defeated Fitriani Fitriani of Indonesia, winning straight sets 21-9, 21-9.
Malaysia’s top player, Tee Jing Yi lost 21-17, 19-21, 18-21 to Lee Chia Hsin of Taiwan while Ho Yen Mei went down 19-21, 14-21 to Thailand’s shuttler, Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.
Two of Malaysia’s men’s singles shuttlers — Chong Wei Feng and Goh Giap Chin — will play in the second round match later today, after both players picked up a victory in the opening match, played earlier.
Wei Feng defeated Kartik Jindal of India, 21-19, 21-17 while Goh edged French player Thomas Rouxel, 15-21, 21-9,22-20. — Bernama
