KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 — Only two Malaysian pairs made it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open badminton championships in Sydney yesterday.
Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying, the seventh seeds in the competition beat Hong Kong's Reginald Lee Chun Hei/Chou Hoi Wah 21-11, 21-15 to move into the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles competition and meet China's Liu Yuchen/Tang Jinhua who had disposed second seeds Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen from Denmark 21-18, 21-16.
Former All England men's doubles champions Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong showed glimpses of their past to beat world number two Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia in a match that went the distance.
Kien Keat-Boon Heong who lost the first set 17-21, bounced back to win the second set 21-17 and force a deciding game which the Malaysian pair won 21-19.
They will face another Indonesian pair Berry Angriawan/Rian Agung Saputro who had beaten Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong from Malaysia 21-14, 21-18.
Hopes in the singles competition evaporated when National champion Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin was shown the exit by Sho Sasaki from Japan (12-21, 16-21) while former world junior champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli failed to get past world number two Chen Long of China, losing 17-21, 12-21.
In the women's singles, Tee Jing Yi lost to Taiwan's Tai Tzu Ying 10-21, 19-21 while Goh Jin Wei found Saina Nehwal of India a tough nut to crack and lost 21-12, 21-14.
In other matches, mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing lost 9-21, 21-19, 11-21 to China's Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin while the only women's doubles pair from Malaysia competing in the tournament, Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei lost to Tang Yuanting/Yu Yang of China, 21-18, 12-21, 21-17. — Bernama
