KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 ― National mixed doubles players, Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying have revived their chance to the semi-finals of the 2018 BWF World Tour Finals Badminton Championship in Guangzhou, China after collecting their first win, last night.
According to the World Badminton Federation (BWF) website, the world number six pair, who were also the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic silver medalists, beat Indonesia's Hafiz Faizal-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja 21-14, 21-12.
However, Peng Soon-Liu Ying who were seeded third/fourth in the championship had a daunting task, where they had to win over the second seeds from Japan's Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino in the group B final match, tomorrow, to advance.
Meanwhile, a different fate befelled the other national mixed double pair, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai as their dream to the semi-finals was shattered despite having one more match, after failing to win any points in the first two games of group A.
They were shown the way out by world number one Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong of China in a half-hour fight that ended with 16-21, 12-21.
Soon Huat-Shevon would complete the competition in Group A by meeting Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith from England.
According to the tournament format, the two best pairs from each Group A and B will advance to the semi-finals.
The tournament, which was previously known as the BWF Super Series Final Round, is a season-ending championship in the BWF calendar, and eight top players in five different categories would be pursuing the championship offering a cash prize of US$1.5 million (RM6.285 million). ― Bernama
