Fighter: Malaysia’s Chong Wei Feng staged a remarkable comeback to beat China’s Gao Huan to reach the quarter-finals of the Korean Open yesterday.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s second echelon shuttlers stepped up to steal the thunder in the US$1mil Korean Open in Seoul yesterday.

Back-up shuttlers Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah exacted sweet revenge on Japan’s Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa with a 21-13, 21-15 win to march into the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles.

The duo lost to the Japanese in last year’s Asian Badminton Champion­ships.

Their more illustrious compatriots – Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong – also made it to the quarter-finals after an easy 21-14, 21-17 win over professionals Gan Teik Chai-Ong Soon Hock.

The second-seeded Kien Keat-Boon Heong will have to be wary when they take on China’s Liu Xiaolong-Qiu Zihan next. The Thailand Open Grand Prix champions are young and are capable of ruffling some feathers.

In the men’s singles, Chong Wei Feng staged a remarkable comeback to beat China’s Gao Huan 14-21, 21-18, 21-15 to join Lee Chong Wei into the men’s singles squarter-finals.

He will take on Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki, who eliminated the gallant run of former world junior champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.

Defending champion and top seed Chong Wei downed Germany’s Marc Zwiebler 21-11, 21-19 to set up a tricky match against Hong Kong’s Hu Yun, whom he had beaten in all their four previous matches.

The other two quarter-finals will be between Vladimir Ivanov of Russia and Du Pengyu of China; and Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia against Japan’s Takuma Euda.

National singles coach Tey Seu Bock said that the premature exits of several stars from China had diluted the competitiveness in the men’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s singles.

On the opening day, second seed Chen Long (men’s singles); Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng (men’s doubles); Wang Yihan, Li Xuerui (women’s singles) retired due to various injuries.

For the record, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) have made it compulsory for all the top 10 players in the world to show up for the Super Series Premier event. If they don’t, they will be fined US$5,000.

SECOND ROUND

Men’s singles: Hu Yun (Hkg) bt P. Kashyap (Ind) 16-21, 21-13, 21-17; Lee Chong Wei (Mas) bt Marc Zwiebler (Ger) 21-11, 21-19; Takuma Euda (Jpn) bt Ville Lang (Fin) 21-10, 21-16; Vladimir Ivanov (Rus) bt Jan O Jorgensen (Den) 21-17, 22-20; Wong Wing Ki (Hkg) bt Viktor Axelsen (Den) 18-21, 21-17, 21-18; Du Pengyu (Chn) bt Hsu Jen-hao (Tpe) 21-8, 21-15; Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Ina) bt Ashton Chen Yong Zhao (Sin) 21-14, 21-13; Chong Wei Feng (Mas) bt Gao Huan (Chn) 14-21, 21-18, 21-15.

Men’s doubles: Mathis Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Den) bt Ingo Kindervater-Johannes Schoettler (Ger) 21-11, 21-14; Ko Sung-hyun-Lee Yong-dae (Kor) bt Rasmus Bonde-Mads Conrad-Petersen (Den) 21-14, 21-14; Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah (Mas) bt Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa (Jpn) 21-13, 21-15; Liu Xiaolong-Qiu Zihan (Chn) bt Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hirata (Jpn) 21-10, 21-13; Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (Mas) bt Gan Teik Chai- Ong Soon Hock (Mas) 21-14, 21-17; Kim Ki-jung- Kim Sa-rang (Kor) bt Chai Biao-Zhang Nan (Chn) 21-14, 21-14; Lee Sheng-mu-Tsai Chia-tsin (Tpe) bt Patiphat Chalardchaleam-Nipitphon Puangpuapech (Tha) 25-23, 15-21, 21-9; Hong Wei-Shen Ye (Chn) bt Vladimir Ivanov-Ivan Sozonov (Rus) 21-12, 21-19.

Matches involving Malaysians in other events

Mixed doubles: Markis Kido-Pia Zebadiah (Ina) bt Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying 12-21, 21-15, 21-13.

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