Dongguan: Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying sealed a Sudirman Cup quarter-final place for Malaysia with a straight-sets win over Indian mixed doubles pair Sikki Reddy N./Arun Vishnu in a Group 1D Sudirman Cup tie in Dongguan, China on Monday.
The Malaysian pair looked edgy and took the first set with 21-14. However, Chan/Goh was struggling to close out the second set when the scratch pair from India Sikki Reddy N. /Arun Vishnu levelled the score at 17-17 before Chan/Goh maintained their grips and finished off the contest with 21-18.
Malaysia had led India 1-0 after Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong completed a 21-15, 21-16 win over Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy in the opening men’s doubles match.
However, India’s world number two Saina Nehwal got the India back to the fight when she coasted to a straight sets 24-22, 21-13 win over Tee Jing Yi as India levelled the score against Malaysia at 1-1.
After the women’s singles match, Tee Jing Yi admitted Saina Nehwal was a very experienced player.
“I tried my best, but she’s more experienced and I was deceived by many of her trick shots,” said Tee.
Former world No. 1 men’s singles shuttler Datuk Lee Chong Wei was more consistent than India’s current world No. 4 Kidambi Srikanth in front of a huge crowd at Dongguan. Lee left the Malaysian in a strong 2-1 position by defeating Srikanth 21-16, 21-15 in 40 minutes.
Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa reversed the result of the women’s doubles final at last year’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games, when they beat Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei who took the gold medal at Glasgow with 21-18, 19-21, 21-15 in three sets to bring the competition back to square one.
And of course, Chan Peng Soon/ Goh Liu Ying eventually came through in the fifth and deciding mixed doubles match within the tie to give Malaysia a 3-2 victory over India.
With the win, Malaysia is guaranteed to be seeded in the knockout stage of the Sudirman Cup. India will battle Korea on Wednesday to decide who would join Malaysia for a seat in the quarter-finals.
Other results on Day 2 of the 2015 Sudirman Cup in Dongguan, China:
| Turkey | – | South Africa | 3-2 |
| Chinese Taipei | – | Russia | 4-1 |
| Germany | – | Thailand | 3-2 |
| Iceland | – | Nigeria | 3-2 |
| Vietnam | – | Switzerland | 4-1 |
| Australia | – | Italy | 4-1 |
| Malaysia | – | India | 3-2 |
| Indonesia | – | England | 3-2 |
| Singapore | – | Canada | 3-2 |
(video: BWF)
