Macau: The South Korean men’s doubles veterans Lee Yong-Dae and Kim Gi-Jung, who have come out retirement in August, found a new way to amaze their fans on Thursday as they’ve reached the Macau Open last 16 with a hard-fought 21-18, 19-21, 21-18 victory over Chooi Kah Ming/Low Juan Shen of Malaysia in the second round.
The Korean pair gets a chance to measure their men’s doubles skills when they take on No. 1 seeds Chen Hung Ling/Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan on Friday.
Malaysia’s independent pair and No. 8 seeds Mohamad Arif Ab Latif Arif/Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub Azriyn produced a brilliant display to beat unseeded Korean pair Kim Jae Hwan/Park Kyung Hoon 21-19, 21-13 to set up quarter-final clash with former World Champions Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol next.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian/Korean duo of Tan Boon Heong/Kim Sa Rang were beaten by Lee Sheng Mu/Yang Po-Hsuan of Taiwan on Thursday, losing 15-21, 22-24.
The men’s singles second round match saw No. 3 seed Lee Hyun Il of Korea came from behind to outlast Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand 19-21, 21-9, 21-15. The 38-year-old Korean will meet Lu Guangzu of China in the final 16.
Although Malaysia’s independent men’s singles shuttler, Chong Wei Feng did show some fighting spirit in the second round match, unfortunately, he was sent packing by Zhao Junpeng of China 21-11, 19-21, 16-21 in 57 minutes.
In women’s competition, Malaysia’s No. 7 seed Soniia Cheah continued her strong run by beating Sim Yu Jin of Korea 21-16, 21-19 to set up a quarter-final clash with No. 3 seed Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong.
The 2018 Macau Open is the twenty-second tournament of the 2018 BWF World Tour, it takes place at Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion Macau in Macau and offers a total prize money of USD $150,000.
