Familiar foes: Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie are up against compatriots Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei in the Korean Open quarter-finals.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s top mixed doubles pairs Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie have increased their chances of qualifying for the World Tour Finals after storming into the Korean Open quarter-finals in Seoul yesterday.
World No. 9 Tang Jie-Ee Wei defeated Taiwan pair Liu Kuang-heng-Jheng Yu-chieh 21-16, 21-19 in the second round.
Independent pair Soon Huat-Shevon, ranked 13th in the world, earned the last eight berth with a 21-13, 21-17 win over Chen Zhi-ray-Yang Ching-tun, also from Taiwan.
Despite missing the Paris Olympics, Soon Huat-Shevon have done well in the Badminton World Federation tour this year where they won the Swiss Open in March and the Malaysian Masters in May.
Interestingly, Tang Jie-Ee Wei lost to Soon Huat-Shevon in the final of the Swiss Open and the semi-finals of the Malaysian Masters and will be on collision course again in the quarter-finals.
Their debut at the Paris Olympics has been solid as they reached the quarter-finals and Tang Jie is now excited with the prospect of meeting Soon Huat-Shevon for the third time this year.
“We are excited to play Soon Huat-Shevon but we are not too perturbed about our past results but are focused more on our own performance,” said Tang Jie.
“When our opponents start accumulating points, we lose focus a bit and this is something we need to rectify in the next match.”
Soon Huat-Shevon also played Tang Jie-Ee Wei in the Korean Open first round last year. They won the clash in straight games.
Victory for either pair will further strengthen their chances of qualifying for the World Tour Finals in Hangzhou from Dec 15-19 where the top eight pairs in the tour rankings will qualify.
Meanwhile, a slightly rusty Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah also made it to the last eight after beating unheralded Taiwan pair Nicole Chan-Lin Chih-chun 21-23, 21-12, 21-12 in the second round.
Pearly-Thinaah, who made history in the Paris by becoming the first Malaysian women’s doubles to reach the semi-finals, will face the winners of the match between Keng Shuliang-Zhang Shuxian of China and Teng Chun-hsun-Yang Chu-yun of Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Choong Hon Jian-Haikal Nazri missed out on a chance to improve their tour ranking after losing 18-21, 21-12, 12-21 to South Koreans Choi Sol-gyu-Heo Kwang-hee in the second round.
