Jiangsu: Malaysia’s badminton mixed doubles world No. 11 pair of Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying were the only Malaysian shuttlers to reach the quarter-finals of the China Masters in Changzhou, Jiangsu, on Thursday.
Chan/Goh had to dig deep to progress to the quarter-finals with a three-set battle against Chinese pair Zhu Junhao/Zhou Chaomin, winning 22-24, 21-12 and 21-13 in 49 minutes.
The Malaysian mixed doubles pair will face Chinese qualifiers He Jiting/Du Yue of China, who pulled off an upset against the third-seeded Shin Baek Cheol/Chae Yoo Jung of South Korea. He/Du beat the South Korean No. 3 seeds 21-19, 19-21, 21-18 in 64 minutes.
In men’s singles, Lin Dan of China also through the second round after knocking off Riichi Takeshita of Japan 21-13, 21-17 in 42 minutes.
Top seeded men’s shuttler Chen Long was in blistering-form as he demolished compatriot Shi Yuqi 21-16, 21-10 in 40 minutes.
Lin Dan faces his junior Lu Guangzu next while Chen Long plays H. S. Prannoy of India on Friday.
Both Malaysian men’s singles players, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin and Liew Daren fizzled out in the men’s singles third round.
In women’s competition, top seed Li Xuerui survived a tougher than expected fight from Japan’s Ayumi Mine by a 21-23, 21-10, 21-8 score line to advance to the quarter-finals.
Three top Korean men’s doubles pairs namely No. 1 seeds Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong, No. 3 seeds Kim Gi Jung/Kim Sa Rang, and No. 4 seeds Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol all breezed into the quarter-finals of China Masters.
