Auckland: National mixed doubles pair, Goh Liu Ying and Chan Peng Soon continued their winning streak to reach the quarterfinals of the 2016 New Zealand Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton tournament.
In the second round match played at the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland, the 2010 Asian Championship gold medal winning pair overcame Matthew Chau/Gronya Somerville of Australia 21-16, 18-21 and 21-16 in 45 minutes, according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website, www.bwfbadminton.org.
The tournament’s third seeded pair showcased a decent performance in their quest to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics qualification after first round exits at both the German Open and All-England recently.
Peng Soon-Liu Ying will next face the winners in the match between Ronan Labar/Emilie Lefel of France and Hafiz Faisal/Shella Devi Aulia of Indonesia in the quarterfinals.
In the men’s singles, 16th seeded Soo Teck Zhi shocked fourth seeded Hsu Jen Hao of Chinese Taipei, defeating the latter in straight sets of 21-17 and 21-10 in 40 minutes.
The 2013 Asian Junior Championships gold medallist Teck Zhi will next take on Shi Yuqi of China in the quarterfinals tomorrow.
However, another of Malaysia’s men’s singles representative, Goh Soon Huat, failed to break into the last eight after going down 21-16 and 21-15 to third seeded Lee Dong Keun of South Korea, despite fighting hard for 56 minutes.
Malaysia did not send any representative to the women’s singles, women’s doubles and men’s doubles of the tournament, which offers US$120,000 (RM504,000)in prize money.
— BERNAMA
