Hangzhou: The badminton competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games got off to a thrilling start on Monday, with a number of top players advancing to the next round.
In the men’s doubles, world No. 5 Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia survived a scare to defeat
Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han of Chinese Taipei in three games, 21-23, 21-12, 23-21. The Malaysian pair will next face Supak Jomkoh/Kittinupong Kedren of Thailand, who are ranked 36th in the world.
Highlights of Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik vs. Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han in the Asian Games first round:
Another Malaysian men’s doubles team, Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi, were not so lucky, as they were eliminated in the first round by Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin of Chinese Taipei, 16-21, 19-21. Lee/Wang will face Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi of Japan in the second round.
In the mixed doubles, the Malaysian pair of Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei advanced to the top 16 with a 21-17, 21-13 victory over Kwek Jun Liang Andy/Wong Jia Ying Crystal of Singapore. Chen/Toh will next face the Indian pair of Sai Pratheek.K/Tanisha Crasto.
Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai also advanced to the top 16 of the mixed doubles, despite scoring just two points in their match against Rohan Kapoor/Reddy Sikki of India. Their opponents retired in the first game, when Goh/Lai were leading 2-0. Goh/Lai will next face the Thai combination of Supak Jomkoh/Supissara Paewsampran.
In other notable results, world champions Seo Seung-jae/Chae Yu Jung of South Korea easily defeated Hussein Zayan Shaheed/Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq of Maldives in the mixed doubles first round, and will face Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in the second round.
The badminton competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games is expected to be fiercely competitive, with a number of top players from around Asia taking part. It will be interesting to see who emerges victorious in the end.
