Stellar show: South Korea’s Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae celebrating after beating China’s Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang.
KUALA LUMPUR: Changing partners regularly can be challenging for shuttlers but South Korean Seo Seung-jae is not complaining.
Instead, Seung-jae is hungry to excel with any player he is partnered with.
The 27-year-old proved his versatility when he combined brilliantly with Kim Won-ho to stun China’s world No. 2 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang 21-17, 21-16 to reach the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
Seung-jae, who was playing for the first time with Won-ho since partnering the latter briefly in 2019, put in a commanding performance from start to finish to send the defending champions home.
Seung-jae holds a 2-1 advantage over Weikeng-Wang Chang in the head-to-head records with 2023 World Championships winning partner Kang Min-hyuk and was delighted to continue his positive record with Won-ho.
“I have played the Chinese pair before with Min-hyuk but this is the first time with another partner,” said Seung-jae.
“We utilised our strengths which are our fast play and defense and I’m happy that we managed to win.
“We are not sure if we will still play together after this month due to possible changes in the Korean Badminton Association (KBA) but we want to do well for now.”
Seung-jae also captured the world title with Chae Yu-jung in the mixed doubles in 2023 but has ended his partnership with the latter.
The 25-year-old Won-ho is also known for his versatility and won silver in the 2022 Asian Games with Choi Sol-gyu and finished second to China’s Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong in the Paris Olympics last August in the mixed doubles with Jeong Na-eun.
In the men’s doubles, Seung-jae was combined with Ki Dong-ju and Jin Yong last year after Min-hyuk had to complete his compulsory military service.
Seung-jae pulled off impressive wins over the likes of Indonesia’s world No. 4 Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto and India’s Asian Games gold medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty en-route to capturing the China Masters title with Jin Yong last November.
In the Malaysian tourney, Seung-jae-Won-ho will next face Taiwan’s Lee Fang-chih-Lee Fang-jen for a place in the semi-final.
Meanwhile, Weikeng-Wang Chang’s defeat meant that the top four seeds in the tournament have tumbled.
Denmark’s top seeds Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, third seeds and homesters Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and fourth seeds Fajar-Rian all lost in the first round.
