Suncheon: World No. 130 Goh V Shem/Low Juan Shen became the only Malaysian shuttlers to advance to the Korea Open second round on Wednesday after beating compatriots World No. 172 Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub/Lim Khim Wah 21-17, 21-19 in 39 minutes.
Goh/Low will fight World No. 225 Kang Minhyuk/Seo Seungjae of Korea for a ticket to the quarter-finals.
In the men’s singles opening round, World No. 35 Daren Liew once led World No. 12 Kidambi Srikanth of India 18-15, but Srikanth was not afraid to attack and won 4 consecutive points to overtake the lead at 19-18 before winning the first game 22-20.
The 34-year-old Liew was no match for Srikanth in the second game and went down 11-21. Srikanth will meet Misha Zilberman of Israel next.
Another Malaysian independent men’s singles player, Soong Joo Ven was outpaced by No. 3 seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, bowing out 13-21, 18-21 in 39 minutes. Christie will face Kodai Naraoka of Japan in the second round.
Meanwhile, Korea’s former World No. 1 Son Wanho who played his first international tournament since losing to Anders Antonsen in the first round of the 2020 All England, seemed on course to resurrect his badminton career by eliminating Jason Teh Jia Heng of Singapore 21-19, 14-21, 21-13 to set up a second-round encounter with Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand.
