Jakarta: Whether it was luck, skill or a combination, Malaysians Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying prevailed and pulled off an amazing upset on Tuesday to beat No. 9 seeds Reginald Lee Chun Hei/Chau Hoi Wah of Hong Kong in the mixed doubles second round at World Championships in Jakarta.
After losing their first set 17-21, the hard-charging Chan/Goh roared back to seize the grueling second set 21-17. In the tense decider, Lee/Chau battled their way from 6-10 to level the score at 10-10. Chan/Goh held their nerves late into third set to fend off the reigning Australian Champions and emerged with 21-18 victory in a match that spanned 52 minutes. Chan/Goh will take on No. 3 seeds Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir in the 3rd round. Unfortunately, Wong Fai Yin/Chow Mei Kuan couldn’t riddle the tournament with another upset on Tuesday, as they failed to close out a very close match after leading 20-19 in the decider against No. 10 seeds Riky Widianto/Puspita Richi Dili of Indonesia. Wong/Chow’s impressive cup run came to an end by losing the match 21-18, 18-21, 20-22 in 75 minutes.
Meanwhile, another Malaysian mixed doubles pair Tan Aik Quan/Lai Pei Jing simply couldn’t keep up with No. 6 seeds Lu Kai/Huang Yaqiong of China, losing 14-21, 7-21 in 31 minutes.
In men’s singles, Malaysian badminton superstar displayed an exceptional degree of skill to get past his Lithuania opponent Kestutis Navickas 21-9, 21-13 in 28 minutes. Lee will take on German Marc Zwiebler on Wednesday. China’s Lin Dan crushed Sattawat Pongnairat of USA 21-8, 21-11 to march into men’s second round. Playing in one of his favorite badminton venue, second seed Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark proved too strong for Boonsak Ponsana as the Dane demolished Ponsana 21-9, 21-19. Nevertheless, former world No. 3 Kenichi Tago of Japan fell short in his opener to unseeded Michal Rogalski of Poland 20-22, 12-21 in 37 minutes.
Returning to badminton after she broke her fifth metatarsal, women’s defending champion and top seed Carolina Marin had to come from a set deficit to overhaul Malaysian unseeded Tee Jing Yi 19-21, 21-14, 21-13 in 70 minutes.
Poised to make a breakthrough in Jakarta, men’s doubles Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong noticeably lifted a level, storming back in third set before easing away Phillip Chew/Sattawat Pongnairat of USA 21-8, 18-21, 21-9 in 37 minutes.
Big-ticket names in the men’s singles and women’s singles namely Chen Long and Saina Nehwal will make their tournament debut on Wednesday.
