PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi have a good opportunity to do well in the Thailand Masters in the absence of several top pairs.
World No. 12 Yew Sin-Ee Yi are the third highest ranked pair in the tournament behind Indonesian duo Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana (No. 9) and Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin (No. 11) with the other big guns opting to give the tournament a miss due to the packed calendar.
The independent pair got off to a good start by beating unheralded Chinese duo Xie Haonan-Zeng Weihan 21-17, 21-16 in the first round in Bangkok yesterday.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi will next face Denmark’s Andreas Sondergaard-Jesper Toft for a place in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, national pair and qualifiers Chia Weijie-Liew Xun easily swept aside homesters Peeratchai Sukphun-Pakkapon Teeraratsakul 21-8, 21-9 to make it into the first round of the tournament proper.
World No. 83 Weijie-Liew Xun, though, have a tough task next against China’s world No. 16 He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu.
Misfortune struck young pair Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri after they were forced to retire from their first-round match against South Korea’s Kim Won-ho-Na Sung-seung while trailing 7-16 after Haikal pulled out with a leg injury.
However, there was better news for Hon Jian in the mixed doubles after he combined well with Go Pei Kee in the qualifying round to blow away Israel’s Misha Zilberman-Svetlana Zilberman 21-13, 21-5 and set up a meeting against home favourites and 2021 world champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai.
The other Malaysian representatives in the mixed doubles - Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing, Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See and Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin – will play their opening round matches today.
In the men’s singles, both Soong Joo Ven and Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin did not manage to make it to the main draw after losing their respective matches in the second qualifying round.
