National men’s top doubles pair, Goh V Shem/Lim Khim Wah led the country’s challenge in the 2015 Taiwan Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton Tournament held at Hsing Chuang Gymnasium in Taiwan by moving into the quarterfinals.
V Shem-Khim Wah, the fourth seeds took only 36 minutes to dispose qualifiers Liao Kuan Hao/Lu Chia Pin from the host country, 21-14, 21-17 in the second round today, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website; www.bwfbadminton.org reported.
The world number 14 ranked pair, gunning for their first title of the season will square-off against Thailand’s unheralded pair Wannawat Ampunsuwan/Tinn Isriyanate in the last-eight, tomorrow.
Wannawat/Tinn pulled off a pleasant surprise by stunning eighth seeds, Taiki Shimada/Yoshinori Takeuchi of Japan 21-12, 23-25, 21-18 in another second round match.
Malaysia’s backup men’s doubles pair, Tan Wee Gieen/Teo Ee Yi also cruised to the next round by defeating Po Li-Wei/Yang Ming-Tse from the host country, 22-20, 21-18.
In the mixed doubles competition Tan Kian Meng/Peck Yen Wei also made it to the last eight by edging Hung Ying Yuan/Hsieh Pei Shan from Taiwan 23-21, 21-13 and slated to meet Lee Yang/Yu Wen Kuo, another pair from the host country, who pulled off a surprise 21-16, 21-18 win over fourth seeded Singapore pair Terry Hee Yong Kai/Tan Wei Han.
Tan Chee Tean/Lai Shevon Jemie, the second seeds in the same event, also marched into the quarter-finals after sweeping aside South Korean pair Jun Bong Chan/Kim Hye Rin 21-12, 21-17 in a second round match.
Malaysia’s challenge in the three other categories — men’s, women’s singles and women’s doubles, fizzled out.
Liew Daren, the 15th seed in the men’s singles lost 16-21, 21-18, 11-21 to fifth seeded Wang Tzu Wei from Tiawan while former 2011 world junior champion, Zulfadli Zulkiffli retired in the second set while trailing 20-22, 7-13 to ninth seed Anthony Ginting of Indonesia. – BERNAMA
