KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 ― Malaysian professional men’s doubles pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi kept alive their semifinal hopes by defeating England's Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge in their second group match of the BWF World Tour Finals in Bangkok, Thailand today.
The unseeded Malaysians, who lost to world number seven Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan in their opening Group A match yesterday, beat the English pair 21-19 and 21-18 at the Impact Arena.
Ong and Teo must beat another English pair, Ben Lane and Sean Vendy, in their final preliminary match to stand a chance of qualifying for the semifinals.
“That last point was do or die. If we made a mistake it would be 20-19, and we'd be under more pressure. So it's good we finished the game. Tomorrow's match will determine whether we will make the semifinals or come third, so we will do our best,” Teo was quoted as saying on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website at www.bwfbadminton.com.
Meanwhile, the country’s top men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were beaten by Russians Vladimir Ivanov-Ivan Sozonov 19-21, 16-21 in 33 minutes in a Group B match.
Chia and Soh, who won their first group match, may also qualify for the semifinals if they beat world number two Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia tomorrow.
Top Malaysian men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia suffered his second straight defeat when he lost 15-21, 4-21 to top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark. He will meet Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in his final Group A match but is already out of the semifinals.
The top two shuttlers in each group advance to the semifinals of the season-ending US$1.5 million (about RM6 million) tournament on Saturday.
Second group-match results:
(Note: Malaysians unless stated; [ ] denotes seeding)
Men’s singles :
Lee Zii Jia lost to [1] Viktor Axelsen (DEN) 15-21, 4-21
Men’s doubles :
Group A: [4] Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi bt Marcus Ellis-Chris Langridge (ENG) 21-19, 21-18
Group B: [2] Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik lost to Vladimir Ivanov-Ivan Sozonov (RUS) 19-21, 16-21
Women’s doubles :
Group A: Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen lost to [1] Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu (INA) 17-21, 7-21
Group A: Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean lost to [3] Lee So Hee-Shin Seung Chan (KOR) 15-21, 17-21
Mixed doubles :
Group B: Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai lost to [4] Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (FRA) 17-21, 9-21 ― Bernama
