KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — Malaysia’s top mixed doubles pair, Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying strolled into the semifinals of the China Masters Grand Prix Gold Badminton Tournament held at the Olympic Sports Centre Xincheng Gymnasium in Jiangsu, China, today.
The sixth seeded pair, the only Malaysian pair left standing in the tournament, took 38 minutes to edge China’s young pair, He Jiting/Du Yue; winning in 21-17 and 21-17 in the quarterfinals, according to Badminton World Federation (BWF) website;www.bwfbadminton.org.
Chan/Goh who are still fresh after emerging as the runners-up in the Malaysia Open, early this month, however, face a daunting task against the top seeds, Xu Chen/Ma Jin of China in the semifinals tomorrow.
The world number four pair booked their berth after whitewashing compatriots Huang Kaixiang/Huang Dongping; 21-12 and 21-13 in the quarterfinals.
The country’s challenge in three other events — men’s singles and doubles and also the women’s doubles event — fizzled out in the preliminary round after the Malaysians lost to their respective opponents.
Malaysia did not send any representatives in the women’s singles in the tournament which offers total prize money of US$250,000 (RM974,035).
The Grand Prix Gold tournament is among the last two tournaments for the Asian shuttlers to clinch world ranking points before the deadline for the 2016 Rio Olympics Games qualification ends after the conclusion of the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) in Wuhan, China at the end of the month. — Bernama
