Birmingham: Malaysia’s World No. 8 men’s doubles pair Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi came back from a first-set defeat to eliminate the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games gold medalists Lee Yang/Wang Chi Lin in the first round of the All England in Birmingham on Tuesday.
After losing 12-21 in the first set, Ong/Teo regained their momentum when they won the second game 21-16. Despite trailing 2-6, 4-7 in the decider, Ong/Teo eventually overcame the Olympic champions 21-18 to confirm their ticket to the second round.
Ong/Teo will play the defending champions – Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Bagas Maulana of Indonesia in the second round.
The victory on Tuesday also allowed Ong/Teo to level their head-to-head meeting record against Lee/Wang to 3-3.
Malaysia’s men’s singles No. 28 Ng Tze Yong also got off to a strong start in the opening round of All England by seeing off World No. 26 Shesar Hiren Rhustavito of Indonesia 21-9, 21-12. Ng will meet No. 1 seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the second round.
Meanwhile, the mixed doubles World No. 6 Tan Kiang Meng/Lai Pei Jing also opened their campaign strong when they advanced to the second round by defeating Indonesian duo, Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari 21-19, 21-18. Tan/Lai will take on 2021 All England runners-up Yuki Kaneko/Misaki Matustomo in the second round after the Japanese pair eliminated another Malaysian pair, Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei 21-19, 22-24, 21-17 in the round first.
