PETALING JAYA: A Malaysian showdown is on the cards at the World Tour Finals in Hangzhou next week after the country’s two top mixed doubles pairs were drawn in the same group.
In the draw held on Saturday (Dec 13), Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Lai Jemie were seeded third and fifth and drawn into Group B.
They will be joined by China’s Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping and Indonesia’s Jafar Hidayatullah-Felisha Pasaribu.
In women’s doubles, Malaysia’s sole representatives Pearly Tan-M Thinaah were seeded top but handed a demanding draw in Group A.
They would come up against China’s Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian, as well as two Japanese pairs, Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto and Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi.
In the men’s doubles, debutants Man Wei Chong and Tee Kai Wun were handed a relatively favourable draw in Group A.
They would take on Indonesia’s Sabar Karyaman-Moh Reza Pahlevi, Taiwan’s Chiu Hsiang-chieh-Wang Chi-lin, with South Korea’s Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae expected to pose the sternest test.
Group B, however, had been labelled the group of death, with Malaysia’s Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik set to face India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, China’s Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang, and Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian-Shohibul Fikri.
