Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong turned the tables on third seeds Liu Cheng-Zhang Nan with an impressive turnaround from a first game deficit for an 11-21, 21-18, 21-15 win in an hour in a first-round match in the USD400,000 Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open in Kowloon on Wednesday.
Â
The Malaysians had lost to the same Chinese pair in the USD700,000 Fuzhou China Open in Fuzhou last week – also in three games 19-21, 22-20, 15-21, in the second round.
Â
However, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi came unstuck against Japan’s Tokuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi 20-22, 13-21 in 34 minutes.
Â
V Shem-Wee Kiong will play Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan for a place in the quarter-finals.
Â
There was also good news in the mixed doubles with two of the three pairs clearing the first hurdle while Rio Olympics silver medallists Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying fell 19-21, 16-21 to England’s husband and wife team of Chris Adcock-Gabrielle Adcock.
Â
Number eight seeds Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemi needed only 22 minutes to brush aside the French pair of Ronan Labar-Audrey Mittelheisser 21-7, 21-8 and will face Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti next.
Â
The Soon Huat-Shevon Lai pair is chasing a place in next month’s BWF World Tour Finals in Guangzhou but will need to at least reach the quarter-finals in Hong Kong – which is their last tournament.Â
Â
Another Malaysian pair Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing will face second seeds Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping of China for a place in the quarter-finals. In the first round, the Malaysians played well to knockout Cheng Ko-chi-Cheng Chi-ya of Chinese Taipei 20-22, 21-17, 21-18 in 58 minutes.Â
Â
In the women’s singles, Soniia Cheah could not salvage a win over Japan’s former world champion Nozomi Okuhara despite leading in both games and went out with a 21-23, 18-21 defeat in 42 minutes.
Â
Meanwhile, newly crowned China Open champion Chen Yufei, seeded fourth, was upset by Thailand’s unseeded Pornpawee Chochuwong 14-21, 21-10, 22-20 in the first round. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
- Advertisement - 
