Lucknow: Riding the momentum from an impressive second round win against No. 4 seeds Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol Thursday, Malaysia’s top men’s doubles pair Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong picked up another convincing win over the No. 6 seeds Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov of Russia Friday afternoon , prevailing with 21-16, 21-15 in 33 minutes.
Goh/Tan will play No. 1 seeds Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen for a final berth on Saturday.
India’s men’s doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar pulled off an upset when they needed 67 minutes to edge past No. 3 seeds Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding of Denmark 22-20, 11-21, 23-21. The Indian pair will play second seeds Kim Gi-Jung and Kim Sa-Rang in the semi-finals.
In the men’s singles competition, Malaysia’s Goh Soon Huat managed to stretch top seed Kidambi Srikanth of India to the limit before losing the decider by 2 points.
Kidambi Srikanth took the opener 21-17 before Goh Soon Huat battled back to claim the second game 21-18. The World No. 9 Srikanth had to dug deep in his reservoir in the decider to eke out a 24-22 win over Goh in the third set. The top seeded Indian will next take on 11th-seed Thai Boonsak Ponsana. Ponsana overcame another Malaysian shuttler Zulfadli Zulkiffli 21-17, 21-19 on Friday.
Malaysia’s challenge mixed doubles also ended on Friday where Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying went down to Kenta Kazuno/Ayane Kurihara 21-14, 21-15 in 42 minutes.
