Bangkok: Former World No. 1 men’s doubles pair Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong of Malaysia brushed off the challenge of their younger compatriots Chooi Kah Ming/ Ow Yao Han, strolling into the Thailand Open GPG semi-finals with 21-17, 21-11 victory on Friday.
Kien Keat/Boon Heong will take on the 2015 SEA Games gold medalists No. 2 seeds Angga Pratama/Ricky Karanda Suwardi of Indonesia next.
In the men’s singles quarter-finals, No. 1 seed Son Wan Ho of Korea found a hole too big to climb out of, losing 12-21, 12-21 to 19-year-old Ihsan Maulana Mustofa of Indonesia on Friday in 37 minutes.
Ihsan will cross sword with another South Korean, Jeon Hyeok Jin of South Korea on Saturday. Jeon Hyeok Jin however saw off a tough challenge from Qiao Bin of China, winning 22-20, 21-18 to earn a semi-final berth.
Lee Hyun Il of Korea and Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka will square off against each other Saturday in other men’s singles semi-finals.
The Malaysian women’s department was left devastated when women’s singles shuttler Tee Jing Yi, women’s pairs Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei, and Amelia Alicia Anscelly/Soong Fie Cho failed to made the cut on Friday.
Women’s singles No. 1 seed Ratchanok Intanon came off of a hard fought match to tame No. 6 seed Sayaka Sato of Japan 9-21, 21-19, 21-12 to set up a semi-final clash with Liang Xiaoyu of Singapore. No. 2 seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea will face No. 3 seed Sun Yu of China for a spot in the women’s singles finals.
SEA Games champions Praveen Jordan/Debby Susanto of Indonesia who has lost to Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na twice this year, will be looking for a much better outcome this time around when both pairs meet in mixed doubles semi-finals on Saturday. Huang Kaixiang/Huang Dongping of China headed to the semi-finals to play Choi Solgyu/Eom Hye Won of Korea next.
