KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 – The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games men’s doubles gold medal pair, Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong marched into the second round of the 2016 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton Tournament, early on this Thursday.
The 2016 All-England semifinalist smashed down Switzerland’s Mathias Bonny/Christian Kirchmayr in straight sets of 21-6 and 21-14 in just 20 minutes to secure second round tie against Denmark’s Mathias Christiansen/David Daugaard at St Jakobshalle Arena in Basel, Switzerland.
The former world number one pair, Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong also entered the second round after defeating Bastian Kersaudy/Gaetan Mittelheisser of France 21-17 and 21-8. The 2010 World Championship silver medal winning pair, will next challenge Thailand’s Puavaranukroh Dechapol/Kedren Kittinupong late tonight.
In the women’s doubles, country’s top women’s doubles pair, Vivian Hoo Kah Mun/Woon Khe Wei smashed down scratch pair Nadia Fankhauser/Sannatasah Saniru (Switzerland/Malaysia) 21-11 and 21-11, to take on Heather Olver/ Lauren Smith of England. However, in the women’s singles, Malaysia’s top women’s singles shuttler, Tee Jing Yi was shown the exit by Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei, after losing 15-21, 21-18 and 21-10 in the first round.
Earlier, Malaysia’s challenge in the men’s singles of the tournament ended after three players lost their respective second round matches last night. Former world junior champion (2011), Zulfadli Zulkiffli lost 21-17, 12-21 and 12-21 to second seeded Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei, back up shuttler Soong Joo Ven lost 19-21, 21-19, 13-21 to another Taiwanese, Wang Tzu Wei.
Meanwhile, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin withdraw while trailing 9-17 in the second set due to an injury after lost 17-21 in first set to Muhammad Bayu Pangisthu of Indonesia. Malaysia did not send any representative for the mixed doubles event of the tournament that offer US$120,000 (RM499,716) as total prize money.
