Jeonju City: No. 9 seed in men’s singles Zulfadli Zulkiffli of Malaysia was in sizzling form in the first and second round of Korea Masters Grand Prix Gold on Wednesday, dashed past Korean Shin Kyung Deok 21-4, 21-5 in his first round match, and glided into the third round after he ushered Japanese Riichi Takeshita out of the tournament 21-15, 21-10 in the men’s second round that was held later Wednesday.
Zulfadli Zulkiffli will face No. 4 seed Lee Dong Keun of Korea on Thursday for a spot in the quarter-finals.
Korean player Son Wan Ho, seeded top in men’s singles, won his first round match against compatriot Woo Seung Hoon 21-12, 21-10 in 26 minutes, and defeated Kanta Tsuneyama 21-12, 21-15 in the men’s second round. Son will next play Qiao Bin of China.
Men’s singles No. 2 seed, the 35-year-old Korean shuttler Lee Hyun-IL was also off to a solid start at home when he charged past Liu Wei Chi of Chinese Taipei 21-19, 21-7 in 27 minutes, dispatched compatriot Kim Young Min 21-8, 21-10 and stormed into round 3 to set up a meeting with Shi Yuqi of China on Thursday.
Other Malaysians such as No. 16 seed Soo Teck Zhi (men’s singles), No. 15 seed Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddinwere (men’s singles), Goh Soon Huat (men’s singles), Lim Chiew Sien (women’s singles), Ho Yen Mei (women’s singles), Chooi Kah Ming/Ow Yao Han (men’s doubles), Low Juan Shen/Ong Yew Sin (men’s doubles) were all sent packing on the same day at Korea Masters.
Top men’s pair Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong eliminated Liao Kuan Hao/Lu Chia Pin of Chinese Taipei in straight-sets 21-14, 21-14 to play Huang Kaixiang/Wang Sijie of China on Thursday.
In women’s singles, No. 1 women’s player Sung Ji Hyun withdrew just minutes into the first set, granting Chen Hsiao Huan of Chinese Taipei a first round victory after the score was tied at 1-1 in the opening game.
