Wuhan: 16-year-old Goh Jin Wei and 19-year-old Ho Yen Mei who represented the Malaysian women’s singles team in the qualifying draw on the first day of the 2016 Badminton Asia Championship, won both matches and advanced to the main draw.
The 2015 World junior champion Goh Jin Wei defeated Chen Jiayuan of Singapore 21-10, 21-6 in her first Group B match. She went on to beat Sri Lanka’s Lekha Shehani 21-11, 21-16 in her second qualifier to maneuver her way to the main draw.
Ho Yen Mei also got off to a good start on Tuesday by beating Kazakhstan’s Veronika Sorokina 21-9 and 21-13 in the first match, and took down Hong Kong’s Cheung Ying Mei by handling her a 21-17, 21-12 loss to move on.
Goh will face Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the first round, while Ho faces a tough task as she has to battle World No. 1 Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand on Wednesday.
In the mixed doubles competition, Malaysia’s top pair Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying put up a good fight, but South Korean pair Shin Baek Cheol/Chae Yoo Jung proved too strong by sending the Malaysian pair packing with 21-18, 18-21, 21-16 in a 64 minutes encounter.
Fortunately, young Malaysian mixed doubles pair of Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing were able to make up the disappointment by outlasting Japanese duo Kenta Kazuno/Ayane Kurihara 21-14, 21-15 to set up a date with No. 1 seeds Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei on Wednesday.
The men’s singles big three including Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan and Chen Long are due to kick off their campaigns at the tournament on Wednesday. Lee will try to maintain his undefeated career head-to-head record against local shuttler Wang Zhengming in the opener, while Lin Dan will meet 21-year-old Ihsan Maulana Mustofa of Indonesia. Meanwhile, top seed Chen Long will play Jeon Hyeok Jin on Wednesday.
