Through: Goh Soon Huat (right) and Shevon Lai Jemie downed Danes Mads Vestergaard-Christine Busch 17-21, 28-26, 21-9.
PETALING JAYA: Professional mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie are not ready to be another victim from the Malaysian camp to Indonesia’s Rehan Naufal-Lisa Ayu.
Soon Huat-Shevon will face Rehan-Lisa in the second round of the Thailand Masters in Bangkok today.
Soon Huat-Shevon, playing in their fourth consecutive tournament, have set up a match against the world No. 17 after beating Denmark’s Mads Vestergaard-Christine Busch 17-21, 28-26, 21-9 in their opening match.
The Malaysia duo are aware that Rehan-Lisa had beaten the higher ranked Tang Chen Jie-Toh Ee Wei in the second round of the Indonesian Masters last week.
“They (Rehan-Lisa) are a tough pair too and we’ll just have to prepare ourselves for each game. Trying to be better every time,” said Shevon.
“I believe we can get a breakthrough in our game.”
Soon Huat-Shevon started the year by reaching the last 16 of the Malaysian Open, followed it up with a quarter-final appearance in the Indian Open and last week, also reached the last 16 at the Indonesian Masters in Jakarta.
Shevon promises to step on the plate.
“I didn’t play well on my part today. Opponents were hard hitters, and I didn’t manage to get my soft touches in quick enough to break their rhythm. So, they were in their comfort zone,” said Shevon.
Another professional pair Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing also stormed into the second round after making short work of Chang Ko-chi-Lee Chih-chen of Taiwan 21-11, 21-17 in 32 minutes
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) pair Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin also got a free ride into the second round after receiving a walkover from veteran English pair Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith in the first round.
They have set-up a second round clash against compatriots and world No. 9 Tang Jie-Ee Wei, who defeated Australia’s Kenneth Choo-Gronya Somerville 21-12, 21-11, thus confirming a berth in the last eight for Malaysia.
Young pair Choong Hon Jian-Go Pei Kee, however, found Thailand’s world No. 6 Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai too strong and lost 21-7, 21-14 while Hong Kong’s Reginald Lee Chun Hei-Ng Tsz Yau defeated independent pair Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See 24-22, 21-18.
In the men’s doubles, backup pair Chia Weijie-Liew Xun pushed China’s world No. 16 He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu all the way before losing 21-10, 14-21, 19-21 in 57 minutes.
“It was a great experience for us to play against a top pair and we lost out on tiny things and we will come back stronger,” said Weijie. “I think they are more consistent than us during the crucial points and that’s the difference between us and the top pairs.”
However, Malaysia still have interest in the men’s doubles as world No. 12 Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi will play Andreas Sondergaard-Jesper Toft of Denmark for a place in the last eight today.
