Seoul: Malaysia’s World No. 16 men’s pair Man Wei Chong/Tee Kai Wun was eliminated in the first round of the 2024 Korea Open on Tuesday.
Man/Tee, seeded fifth, suffered a 15-21, 19-21 defeat to Korea’s veteran pair Kim Gi Jung/Kim Sa Rang, marking their third consecutive loss to the Korean duo.
Kim Gi Jung (34) and Kim Sa Rang (35) will face China’s Xie Haonan/Zeng Weihan in the next round, who came back from a set down to defeat Taipei’s Liu Kuang Heng/Yang Po Han 17-21, 21-19, 21-18.
Malaysian independent men’s doubles pairs, Boon Xin Yuan/Goh V Shem, Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub Azriyn/Tan Wee Kiong, along with the women’s doubles pair Go Pei Kee/Teoh Mei Xing successfully advanced to the round of 16 at the Korea Open Super 500 badminton tournament.
The world No. 85 pair, Boon Xin Yuan/Goh V Shem, overcame the world No. 46 Chen Zhi Yi/Presley Smith of the USA in the first round with a score of 17-21, 23-21, 21-11. In the next round, they are expected to challenge Korea’s top seeds and world champions, Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae, who will face the Taipei pair Lin Bing-Wei/Su Ching Heng in the first round on Wednesday.
Another independent Malaysian men’s doubles pair, Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub Azriyn/Tan Wee Kiong, secured a 21-19, 21-11 victory over Canada’s Kevin Lee/Ty Alexander Lindeman. They will next face Indonesia’s seventh seeds, Leo Rolly Carnando/Bagas Maulana.
Taipei’s new men’s doubles pair Wang Chi-lin/Chiu Hsiang Chieh put on a remarkable fight to narrowly defeated Korea’s 2014 world champions Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol 21-12, 19-21, 25-23. They will next face their compatriots and third seeds Lee Jhe-Huei/Yang Po-Hsuan in the round of 16.
On Wednesday, last week’s Japan Open champions Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin will face their compatriots Choong Hon Jian/Muhammad Haikal in the first round. The winners will advance to face Korea’s new pairing of Choi Sol Gyu/Heo Kwang Hee, where Heo has switched from singles to doubles.
