Breakthrough: Malaysia’s Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Lai Jemie (left) are in the second round of the All-England for the first time since 2019.
PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles shuttlers Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie savoured a rare opening round victory in the All-England.
Soon Huat-Shevon had not managed to win in the prestigious tournament in the past four years after their best performance in the 2019 edition where they reached the semi-finals.
The world No. 14 independent pair, though, ended their disappointing run in the competition with a 21-17, 26-24 win over Taiwan’s Chang Ko-chi-Lee Chih-chen at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Tuesday.
Soon Huat-Shevon were behind 11-15 in the second game but stayed composed to come from behind to claim the win.
It was sweet revenge for the duo after losing to the Taiwanese pair in their last meeting in the Spain Masters last year.
“It’s a good win for us considering that we lost to them in our previous meeting,” said Shevon in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“There’s still room for improvement for us as we made some unforced errors but overall, we did pretty well to win in straight games.”
Soon Huat said: “In the second game, our opponents were leading and we are glad that we handled the pressure well at that time and managed to overcome the situation.”
Soon Huat-Shevon will most likely face a steep hurdle next against China’s French Open champions Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping.
Shevon acknowledged that she and Soon Huat need to raise their game if they hope to progress further in the tournament.
“We are not in our best form yet. We have not performed at our best for quite some time,” said Shevon.
“The competition in the mixed doubles now is really tough with all pairs capable of playing well.
“We are looking forward to doing well but it will be quite a challenge for us to get back to our best form.”
Meanwhile, women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah also reached the second round after easily beating fellow Malaysians Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien 21-10, 21-10.
World No. 15 Pearly-Thinaah will likely take on China’s world No. 1 Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan next for a place in the last eight.
Meanwhile, Independent men’s doubles pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi crashed out after going down fighting 21-15, 21-23, 14-21 to China’s world No. 8 Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi.
The early exit ends Yew Sin-Ee Yi’s (world No. 12) hopes of qualifying for the Paris Olympics.
