Vladivostok: Malaysia’s unseeded mixed doubles scratch pair Chan Peng Soon/Cheah Yee See won the Russian Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton Tournament in Vladivostok, Russia on Sunday.
The World No. 152 Chan Peng Soon/Cheah Yee See who were competing in only their third tournament together, went on a rampage to demolish Japanese pair Keiichiro Matsui/Akane Araki 11-8, 13-11, 11-3 at the Sport Hall Olympic to claim their first international title.
The victory came at the perfect time for the Chan/Cheah who will be competing at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games that will be held from Aug 19 to Aug 30.
However, there was no joy for Malaysia’s No. 2 seeds men’s pair Chooi Kah Ming-Low Juan Shen and women’s singles No. 1 seed Soniia Cheah in the Russian Open finals.
Chooi Kah Ming-Low Juan Shen have no answers to top seeds Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov of Russia, failed to win in the men’s doubles final when they bowed out to the Russian pair 6-11, 9-11, 5-11 in 25 minutes.
Earlier Sunday, No. 1 seed Soniia Cheah suffered a shocking upset in the women’s singles final as she was beaten by home shuttler Evgeniya Kosetskaya 9-11, 11-5, 5-11,11-5, 4-11 in 40 minutes.
There was also a surprise in the men’s singles final as Russia’s No. 2 seed Vladimir Malkov who was the favorite to win the title following the withdrawal of top seeded-Indian Sourabh Verma. Malkov was stunned by compatriot No. 5 seed Sergey Sirant 13-11, 11-5, 6-11, 7-11, 11-4 in 47 minutes.
