Apart from women’s doubles Low Yeen Yuan-Valeree Siow, who failed to get past the first round, it was a good day at the office for other Malaysian shuttlers at the Super 1000 Indonesia Open today.
As expected, men’s singles Lee Zii Jia cruised into the round of 16 following a comfortable 21-15, 21-14 win Thailand’s Sitthikom Thammasin. Zii Jia will play India’s Sameer Verma on Thursday.
It was, however, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai who stole the thunder from the world No 5 men’s singles, fighting tooth and nail before sending world No 1 mixed doubles, Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand packing 21-18, 7-21, 22-20.
Following a turbulent week having to deal with bouts of food poisoning at the recently concluded Indonesia Masters, the world No 14 Malaysians, played the match of their lives to record their first ever win over the Thai hotshots.
Soon Huat could barely stand on court in between points towards the end of the match.
“That’s Soon Huat. So I said, I will just support you all the way and you do what you can, I will try to cover as much as I can,” Shevon told bwfbadminton.com after the match.
Grateful for an extra day to recover, Soon Huat-Shevon will face compatriots and newly formed combination Hoo Pang Ron-Toh Ee Wei next for a place in the quarter-finals.
Pang Ron-Ee Wei, happy to have made the cut for the top-tier event, had earlier upset Japan’s Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matsumoto 21-14, 21-19.
Another new combination on the block, Soong Joo Ven-Goh Liu Ying, also scored their first win as a pair, when they notched an impressive 21-13, 22-20 win over homesters Hafiz Faizal-Serena Kani to set a date with third seeds Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino of Japan next.
World No 10 men’s doubles Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi also lived up to their billing by scoring a 21-14, 21-14 win over Denmark’s Jeppe Bay-Lasse Molhede. The 2021 World Championships semi-finallists will play reigning world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan in the second round.
Despite Yeen Yuan-Valeree losing 21-10, 21-14 to China’s Du Yue-Li Wen Mei, there was still some cheer for Malaysia as independent duo, Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien thrashed Brazil’s Jaqueline Lima-Samia Lima to face the China pair next.
Meanwhile, other top names like world No 7 men’s doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, women’s doubles Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah and independent men’s singles Liew Daren will take to court on Wednesday for the second half of first-round matches.