Hong Kong: Malaysia’s women’s doubles pair, Soong Fie Cho/Tee Jing Yi overcame two hurdles in the qualifying round at Hong Kong Coliseum on Tuesday to enter the Hong Kong Open main draw.
The World No. 59 Malaysian pair outlasted Cheung Ying Mei/Avery Tsang Wing Chiu of Hong Kong, 21-10, 21-15 in the first qualifying match and beat another Hong Kong pair Fan Ka Yan/Wu Yi Ting 21-7, 21-17 in their second qualifying match. They were scheduled to play No. 7 seeds Huang Yaqiong/Yu Xiaohan of China at around 9.30pm Hong Kong time on Wednesday.
In mixed doubles, last week’s China Open runners-up Mathias Christiansen/Christinna Pedersen pulled off a major upset on Tuesday as they defeated No. 3 seeds Chris Adcock/Gabrielle Adcock 21-12, 21-19 in 37 minutes.
However, Tuesday started out bad for Malaysia’s mixed doubles pairs as Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing lost to Zhang Nan/Liu Xuan Xuan 13-21, 17-21 while China’s He Jiting/Du Yue staged a superb recovery to overcome the spirited Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai of Malaysia, winning their opening round 21-16, 21-23, 21-15.
In men’s singles, Malaysia’s independent player Chong Wei Feng handed a walkover to Lu Chia Hung of Taiwan while Daren Liew was sent packing by Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the first qualifying match.
Malaysia’s former World No. 1 badminton player Lee Chong Wei who won the tournament in 2009, 2010, 2013 and in 2015, will play China’s Tian Houwei in the first round, while two time Olympic champion Lin Dan will meet Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand on Wednesday.
