Eogene Ewe showed plenty of pace and staying power to outlast China’s Zhou Xin Yu for a place in the second round of the Men’s Singles Allianz Super 100 at the Indoor Arena Educity Sports Complex in Iskandar Puteri, Johor.
The 20-year-old Perak native, who was part of the Malaysian squad that won silver at last year’s Badminton Asia Team Championships, took the first set 21-19.
But the 23-year-old Xin Yu bounced back to take the second set 21-11 before Eogene made full use of the rallies to take the third set 21-14 in the hour-long duel.
Eogene’s opponent in the Round of 32 tomorrow is Riki Takei – the former Asian Junior Under-15 champion in 2017 – who received a bye today.
Other Malaysians in the next round are second-seeded Justin Hoh, who also received a bye on the day, as did fourth-seeded Aidil Soleh.
Veteran Cheam June Wei had to survive some anxious moments in his opening campaign in the Men’s Singles before surviving a determined Cho Geon-yeop from Korea.
The Penang-born June Wei, who had won the Lin Dan Cup three times, conceded the first set 15-21 to the 29-year-old Geon-yeop.
But June Wei showed plenty of grit to take the next two sets, 21-10, 21-16 in 56 minutes for his place in the next round.
June Wei’s opponent tomorrow will be fifth-seeded Chen Zhu Xuan from China, who received a bye.
But while another Malaysian, Lim Ming Hong, was on a bye today, Chuah Kim Sheng had to fight it out against Sri Lanka’s Viren Nettasinghe for his place in the Round of 32 of the Men’s Singles.
It took Kim Sheng 37 minutes to shut down Viren, 21-14, 21-17.
