KUALA LUMPUR − Rising national men’s singles shuttler Ng Tze Yong pulled off a great comeback to check into the quarterfinals after he disposed of Lucas Claerbout of France in the second round of the India Open 2022 today.
After losing the first set 20-22, the unseeded Tze Yong put up a stronger performance as he took the remaining sets 21-15, 21-18 to set up an encounter against the winner of the match between Nhat Nguyen of Ireland and host player Rahul Yadav Chittaboina.
However, young national player Soong Joo Ven failed to create an upset against recently crowned world champion Loh Kean Yew when he lost 12-21, 12-21 at the hands of the Singaporean in the tournament held in K. D. Jadhav Indoor Hall, New Delhi.
Meanwhile, all three Malaysian mixed doubles representatives namely Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing, Chan Peng Soon-Valeree Siow and Chen Teng Jie-Peck Yen Wei successfully cleared their second hurdle to advance to the next round.
Top seeds Kian Meng-Pei Jing trounced Indian duo Siddarth Jakhar-Megha Morchana Bora 21-6, 21-11 to face Russian pair Konstantin Abramov-Anastasiia Akchurina after their opponents Dhruv Kapila-Reddy N. Sikki of India conceded a walkover in the second round.
Newly formed national mixed doubles pair Peng Soon-Valeree − seeded fifth − were too strong for Indian pair Kasish Sharma-Saruni Sharma as they enjoyed a convincing 21-6, 21-8 win and will be up against second seeds Rodion Alimov-Alina Davletova next.
The Russian pair had earlier defeated host duo Ayush Makhija-Deeksha Choudhary 21-6, 21-7.
Teng Jie-Yen Wei were handed a “free pass” to the quarterfinals as their opponents Sai Pratheek K-Gayatri Gopichand Pullela gave a walkover.
The third seeds will determine a semi-finals spot against eighth seeds Venkat Gaurav Prasad-Juhi Dewangan as the Indian pair eliminated their compatriots Sanjai Srivatsa Dhanraj-Pooja Dandu 21-16, 21-23, 21-19.
In the meantime, professional men’s doubles duo Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi received a second-round walkover from India’s Utkarsh Arora-Akshan Shetty.
Indian pair, Ishaan Batnagar-Sai Pratheek K, who also received a walkover from their compatriots M. R. Arjun-Dhruv Kapilla, await Yew Sin-Ee Yi − ranked 11th best in the world − in the last eight clash.
Malaysia’s only hope in the women’s doubles category, Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sen continued their fine run as they got the better of the India-United States pair Srivedya Gurazada-Ishika Jaiswal 21-15, 21-15.
Vivian-Chiew Sen − seeded fifth − will take on third seeds Anastasia Akchurina-Olga Morozova who crushed Anuriya Das-Sanghamitra Saikia 21-2, 21-12.
Meanwhile, Badminton World Federation (BWF) in a statement today confirmed that seven players have been withdrawn from the tournament after testing positive for Covid-19.
Without listing down the players, BWF informed that those affected will not be replaced in the main draw and their opponents will be given a walkover to the next round. – Bernama, January 13, 2022
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