PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles shuttlers Jimmy Wong-Lai Pei Jing pulled off an impressive win over Japan’s two-time Olympic bronze medallist Yuta Watanabe and his young partner Maya Taguchi to reach the Indian Open second round.
Jimmy-Pei Jing, who are making their debuts together in a World Tour Super 750 tournament, combined superbly to claim a 21-10, 23-21 win in just 36 minutes at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi yesterday.
Watanabe used to be known as one of the best mixed doubles players in the world and reached No. 1 in the rankings with former partner Arisa Igarashi at the end of 2022.
The 28-year-old also won two World Championships silver medals with Igarashi before the pair decided to go their separate ways shortly after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
While Watanabe might not be the same player that he was with his former partner, it was still a confidence-boosting victory for Jimmy-Pei Jing after the duo went down to Hong Kong’s world No. 7 Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet in the Malaysian Open first round last week.
Jimmy-Pei Jing will next face the winners of the match between China’s top seeds Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping and Denmark’s Mads Vestergaard-Christine Busch for a place in the quarter-finals.
Fellow independent pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie are also through to the second round after ousting Taiwan’s Wu Guan-xun-Lee Chia-hsin 21-17, 21-17.
Thailand’s SEA Games champions Ruttanapak Oupthong-Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat stand in Soon Huat-Shevon’s way next.
Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin though narrowly missed out on a huge upset win after going down 21-17, 16-21, 20-22 to Thailand’s third seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran in 57 minutes.
Meanwhile, reigning world champions Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei will play China’s world No. 16 Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi in the opening round today.
FIRST ROUND RESULTS
Malaysians only
Men’s singles: Rasmus Gemke (Den) bt Lee Zii Jia 21-13, 18-21, 21-18.
Mixed doubles: Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie bt Wu Guan-xun-Lee Chia-hsin (Tpe) 21-17, 21-17; Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) bt Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin 17-21, 21-16, 22-20; Jimmy Wong-Lai Pei Jing bt Yuta Watanabe-Maya Taguchi (Jpn) 21-10, 23-21.
