KUALA LUMPUR: Professional mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai made a winning start at the All-England in Birmingham, edging past Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran in a hard-fought first-round encounter.
Despite being the top seeds, Soon Huat-Shevon were made to work for their victory, battling through three gruelling sets before sealing a 22-20, 9-21, 21-19 win to advance to the second round.
The victory also served as sweet revenge for their defeat to the same Thai pair in the Malaysia Open semi-finals in January.
Meanwhile, men’s doubles pair Wan Arif Junaidi-Yap Roy King found the going tough against China’s Huang Di-Liu Yang.
Despite putting up a strong fight, the national duo struggled to match the world No. 37 pair’s dominance and eventually fell 18-21, 21-16, 17-21.
