Saarbrucken: Malaysian shuttler Chong Wei Feng who has been looking to rebuild his career, survived a major scare in the opening round of Bitburger Open, needed 71 minutes to beat Kai Schaefer of Germany 21-15, 20-22, 21-15 on Tuesday.
Chong will face qualifier Lukas Schmidt from Germany in the men’s second round.
Men’s No. 1 seed and defending champion Chou Tien Chen was forced to battle for a 21-19, 21-19 win in 35 minutes against Alexander Roovers of Germany.
In their fifth career encounter, Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif still couldn’t snap the losing streak against No. 9 seed Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia, going down 19-21, 15-21. Rumbaka will play local shuttler Lars Schaenzler next.
Another Malaysian shuttler Jiann Shiarng Chiang was also knocked out from the tournament by Joachim Persson of Denmark, crashing 17-21, 10-21 in 26 minutes.
Men’s doubles pair Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong and women’s doubles pair Amelia Alicia Anscelly/Soong Fie Cho will kick off their Bitburger campaigns on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, No. 4 seeds Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei who received a first round bye, will play Leanne Choo/Nadia Fankhauser in the women’s doubles second round on Thursday.
The Bitburger Open is an international badminton tournament held in Germany since 1988. It is sponsored by the German pilsner beer brewery Bitburger.
