PETALING JAYA: Former internationals Cheah Soon Kit-Ong Beng Teong, reliving their men’s doubles partnership after 20 years, cleared their opening round hurdle in the KLRC New Zealand Open in Auckland yesterday.
They defeated Kiwis Oliver Leydon Davis-Joe Wu 23-21, 22-20. And the unseeded Soon Kit-Beng Teong, now aged 39 and 45 respectively, will bid to continue their winning run against another Kiwi pair, third seeds Kevin Dennerly Minturn-Henry Tam, in the quarter-finals today.
Soon Kit-Beng Teong are best remembered for clinching the winning point in the 1988 Thomas Cup semi-final tie against Indonesia to put Malaysia through to the final for the first time in 12 years.
In the men’s singles, Sairul Amar Ayob (pic) and Lee Tsuen Seng also marched into the quarter-finals with easy wins over Kiwi opponents.
Top seed Sairul beat Brent Miller 21-6, 21-7 in a second-round match and will face another local, John Moody in the quarter-finals. Third seed Tsuen Seng overcame James Eunson 21-7, 21-9 and should beat Kiwi Hu He Maoni today to reach the semi-finals.
In the women’s singles, Malaysia’s M. Sutheaswari beat New Zealand’s Susannah Leydon Davis 21-4, 21-7 in her opening match to reach the last eight.
But her campaign is likely to come to an end today as she is up against current world number one Zhou Mi of Hong Kong. The top seeded Zhou Mi beat Anna Rankin of New Zealand 21-5, 21-5 yesterday.
Malaysia’s Lim Pek Siah-Haw Chiou Hwee, who are the top seeds in the women’s doubles competition, received a bye in the first-round and will be in action against Kritteka Gregory-Mary O’Connor in the quarter-finals today.
