Tall order: Men’s doubles pair Tee Kai Wun (front) and Man Wei Chong will play Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi in the second round.
PETALING JAYA: National mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei continued their fine form when they stunned South Korea’s Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun to march into the second round of the Asian Championships.
World No. 22 Tang Jie-Ee Wei, who had captured their first World Tour title at the Orleans Masters around three weeks ago, turned the tables on world No. 10 Won-ho-Na-eun with a stylish 21-14, 21-13 victory in just 34 minutes in Dubai on Tuesday.
The victory was sweet revenge for Tang Jie-Ee Wei after they had lost to the Korean pair in the German Open last month.
“I think we had prepared well mentally for this match,” said Ee Wei.
“We had decided to forget about our Orleans Masters title win and focus fully on this tournament.
“Our coach (Nova Widianto) did a great job on guiding us tactically and this helped us to win.
“Anyway, this is just one win and we need to keep our concentration on our next match.”
Nova was pleased with his charges for their improved display following the loss in Germany.
“Tang Jie and Ee Wei were more patient than in the German Open and this worked in their favour,” said Nova.
Tang Jie-Ee Wei, who are making their debut together in this tournament, will next face Indonesia’s experienced duo and world No. 39 Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva.
Praveen had been sidelined due to injury during the second half of last year but is slowly finding his feet again with Melati after returning to competitions in January.
The pair had finished as runners-up in the Spain Masters last month.
Nova, who had been the pair’s coach before joining the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) in January, is wary of the threat posed by his former charges.
“We can’t afford to underestimate Praveen and Melati as they are regaining their best form,” said Nova.
Meanwhile, independent pair Goh Soon-Huat- Shevon Lai Jemie also booked their spot in the second round with a hard-fought 15-21, 22-20, 21-15 win over Orleans Masters runners-up Ye Hong-wei-Lee Chia-hsin.
World No. 8 Soon Huat-Shevon will next play China’s world No. 51 Cheng Xing-Chen Fanghui for a place in the quarter-finals.
It was despair though for another independent pair, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing, who went down 17-21, 13-21 to Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin.
