PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi celebrated their new career high ranking in style by taking down Taiwan’s world No. 7 Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan in the Indonesian Masters first round.
Roy King-Arif moved up three spots to No. 20 in the latest rankings and continued their progress by pulling off a stunning 21-17, 21-19 win over Jhe-huei-Po-hsuan in just 30 minutes at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta yesterday.
It was the youngsters’ second consecutive win over the Taiwanese duo after also beating them in the second round of the Malaysian Masters last May.
Roy King-Arif went on to reach the semi-finals in the home tournament in what was their best performance in a World Tour Super 500 event so far and the pair will be out to equal or better that achievement in Indonesia.
The duo though will likely have a tough hurdle next against veteran homesters Mohamad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan, who are playing together one last time in the tourney before retiring.
Meanwhile, it was a good day overall for Malaysia in the men’s doubles when Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun and Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong also won their respective first round matches.
World No. 5 Aaron-Wooi Yik survived a scare in the second game before prevailing 21-13, 23-21 against Denmark’s William Kryger-Christian Faust while world No. 13 Wei Chong-Kai Wun beat China’s Sun Wenjun-Zhu Yijun 21-19, 21-14.
Aaron-Wooi Yik will likely face fellow Malaysians Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi next while Wei Chong-Kai Wun could meet Taiwanese brothers Lee Fang-chi-Lee Fang-jen for a place in the quarter-finals.
Hang Yee-Eng Cheong fought hard to overcome homesters Rahmat Hidayat-Yeremia Rambitan 21-14, 19-21, 21-18 to set up a meeting against another home pair, world No. 4 Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto.It was heartbreak though for world junior champions Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing after they went down fighting 19-21, 21-19, 19-21 to homesters Raymond Indra-Patra Harapan in the qualifying round.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, K. Letshanaa defeated Denmark’s Amalie Schulz 21-14, 21-16 in the qualifying round and will play Ukraine’s Polina Buhrova next for a spot in the second round.
