Taipei: Malaysia’s independent men’s doubles pair Hoon Thien How/Lim Khim Wah needed only 36 minutes to dispatch Liao Kuan Hao/Lu Chia Pin of Taiwan 21-14, 21-17 on Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals of Chinese Taipei Grand Prix. The Malaysians will take on Wannawat Ampunsuwan/Thatinn Isriyanate of Thailand next for a spot in the semi-final.
Another Malaysian men’s doubles pair, Tan Wee Gieen/Teo Ee Yi overcame a tough challenge from Po Li-Wei/Yang Ming-Tse of Taiwan to book a place in the quarter-finals. Tan/Teo will play No. 5 seeds Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi of Japan on Friday.
Mixed doubles competition saw Tan Kian Meng/Peck Yen Wei of Malaysia edged past Hung Ying Yuan/Hsieh Pei Shan from Taiwan 23-21, 21-13 and slated to meet Lee Yang/Yu Wen Kuo, another pair from the host country, who pulled off a 21-16, 21-18 upset victory over No. 4 seeds Terry Hee Yong Kai/Tan Wei Han from Singapore.
No. 2 seeds in mixed doubles Tan Chee Tean/Jemie Lai Shevon also marched into the quarter-finals, sweeping aside South Korean pair Jun Bong Chan/Kim Hye Rin 21-12, 21-17 in 32 minutes. Tan/Lai will face Chang Ko-Chi/Chang Hsin Tien of Taiwan in the quarter-finals.
However, Malaysia’s challenge in men’s, women’s singles and women’s doubles had all fizzled out.
The 2011 world junior champion, Zulfadli Zulkiffli lost his first set with 20-22, but retired to ninth seed Anthony Ginting of Indonesia while trailing 7-13 in the second set. Thursday was the end of the road for Daren Liew as well, the No. 15 seed in the men’s singles category lost 16-21, 21-18, 11-21 to fifth seeded Wang Tzu Wei from Taiwan.
