Zulfadli marches on, early showers for BAM players in French Open

epa05598078 Goh V Shem (R) and Wee Kiong Tan of Malaysia in action during the men's doubles semi-final match against Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark for the Yonex Denmark Open badminton tournament in Odense, Denmark, 22 October 2016. EPA/Frank Cilius DENMARK OUT

PARIS: Extra work at the gymnasium paid of big time for Zulfadli Zulkiffli at the French Open.

The independent shuttler Zulfadli kept the Malaysian flag flying high when he toiled for one hour and 14 minutes to beat Huang Yuxiang of China 24-22, 12-21, 22-20 to enter the men's singles second round at the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium on Wednesday.