Chong Wei advances to All England quarters
Published on: Friday, March 10, 2017
Kuala Lumpur: National top singles, Datuk Lee Chong Wei advanced to the quarter-finals of the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, Thursday.The world number one singles player took 39 minutes to beat world number 25 Wang Tzu Wei of Taiwan, 21-18, 21-18 in the second round.On Wednesday, Chong Wei, a three-time former champion, kicked off his All England campaign by beating France's Brice Leverdez 21-15, 21-12 in the first round.ADVERTISEMENT A potential semi-final obstacle for Chong Wei, China's Olympic champion Chen Long also won his opening match Wednesday beating Germany's Marc Zwiebler 21-17, 21-7. Some now consider Chen the favourite despite being seeded down at five. Chen has competed little since his Rio triumph, though his win over Zwiebler, a former semi-finalist, suggested Chen may recover full match fitness quickly.Meanwhile, another national player, Zulfadli Zulkiffli bowed out to Lin Dan of China in 11-21, 12-21. Also progressing to the second round on Wednesday were national men's doubles pair of Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong who trounced the Japanese pair of Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi 21-15, 21-18. ADVERTISEMENT The world number one doubles' pair will face a new pair from China, Liu Xiaolong/Xu Chen who routed Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe of Japan, 21-17, 21-14. National women's doubles pair, Vivian Ho/Woon Khei Wei had to work hard before subduing the Thai pair, Puttita Suparijakul/Sapsiree Taerattanachai to qualify for the second round.
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The Malaysian pair fought for one hour and 17 minutes before overcoming the Thais 18-21, 21-11, 21-17. The Malaysian pair, ranked 11th in the world will, face third seeds Jung Kyung Eun/Shin Sung Chan of South Korea who beat another Thai pair Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai, 21-19, 21-19. Another national women's pair, Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi however lost to Taiwan's Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han 14-21, 21-13, 18-21. Meanwhile, two national mixed doubles pairs of Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying and Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing comfortably qualified for the second round. Sixth seeds Peng Soon/Liu Ying defeated Nico Ruponen/Amanda Hogstrom of Sweden 21-12, 21-19 and will meet Zhang Nan/Li Yinhui of China next. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Kian Meng/Pei Jing who were seeded eighth took 34 minutes to trounce Taiwan's Lu Ching Yao/Chiang Kai Hsin 21-14, 21-19. The pair now ranked ninth in the world are expected to face new South Korean pair, Yoo Yeon Seong/Kim Ha Na who earlier beat Pranaav Jerry Chopra/N.Sikki Reddy of India 21-19, 22-20.