Two men’s doubles teams from Malaysia advance towards the Thailand Open quarterfinals
BANGKOK: Two Malaysian men’s doubles teams won their respective second-round matches today, moving them into the quarterfinals of the 2024 Thailand Open badminton championships.
Choong Hon Jian and Muhammad Haikal Nazri defeated Thailand’s Pharanyu Kaosamaang and Worrapol Thongsa-nga 21-17, 21-10 in 33 minutes to advance as the first national team into the quarterfinals at the Nimibutr Stadium.
Hon Jiang and Muhammad Haikal will play Chinese Taipei’s Ming Che Lu and Tang Kai Wei, who won a three-set match against South Korean duo Kim Young Hyuk and Wang Chan 23-21, 18-21, and 21-14.
Rising men’s doubles duo from the nation, Junaidi Arif and Yap Roy King, defeated Danish duo Daniel Lundgaard and Mads Vestergaard in straight sets, 21-14 and 21-13, to become the second pair to advance to the quarterfinals.
Top seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty from India, who advanced to the second round after defeating Chinese pair Xie Hao Nan and Zeng Wei Han 21-16 and 21-11, will take on Junaidi and Roy King.
When contacted following the game, Junaidi stated they will play by their strategy and not overextend themselves in preparation for tomorrow’s battle.
“They should be feeling the pressure because we are the underdogs facing the top-seeded duo.
We just want to have fun playing here, do less unintentional mistakes, and maybe enough to win the game,” he said to Bernama today.
He stated that their goal, which remains the same for this tournament, is to go at least to the semi-finals in every competition they participate in.
Hon Jian, though, stated that he and his partner will carry on with their offensive strategy against Che Lu and Kai Wei in tomorrow’s quarterfinal.
“Our game plan for tomorrow is to play an aggressive game as it is what we always like to play defensively. In order to build momentum for our home tournament, the Malaysia Masters, next week, we aim to go to the semifinals in this competition,” he stated.
World No. 5 men’s singles player Kodai Naraoka of Japan and top-seeded women’s doubles team from Thailand, Han Yue of China, and the tournament’s top-seeded women’s singles player Han Yue all advanced triumphantly into the quarterfinals after winning their respective matches.
China’s Keng Shu Liang and Zhang Chi was upset by home favorite Jongkolphan and Rawinda. 21–18, 16–21, and 21–10 in sixty-two minutes, world no. Chinese female singles Han defeated Indian Ashmita Chaliha While Kodai was pushed to the brink by Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan, they won 21-11, 15-21, and 20-22 in an hour and twenty-two minutes. 21-15, 12-21, and 21-12 in 48 minutes. – Bernama