PETALING JAYA: Doubles shuttlers Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (pic) and Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei celebrated their rise to career high world rankings by reaching the second round of the Indian Open.
In the men’s doubles, Sze Fei-Izzuddin, who moved up one spot to No. 2 in the latest rankings, defeated teammates Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub 21-16, 21-16 in the first round at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium in New Delhi yesterday.
It was a good response from the independent pair after they suffered a shock opening round loss to Denmark’s Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard in the Malaysian Open last week.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin will next face another Malaysian duo, world No. 23 Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi for a place in the quarter-finals.
Roy King-Arif booked their spot in the second round after sweeping aside Germany’s Marvin Seidel-Daniel Hess 21-11, 21-8.
In the mixed doubles, Tang Jie-Ee Wei, who rose two spots to No. 3 in the rankings, were also in good form as they needed only 32 minutes to beat Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei-Nicole Chan 21-15, 21-16.
The pair were promoted to top seed status after China’s world No. 1 Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping withdrew from the tournament.
Tang Jie-Ee Wei though have a tougher second round match against either Thailand’s Malaysian Open champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran or Hong Kong’s new pairing Tang Chun Man-Ng Tsz Yau.
Tang Jie-Ee Wei are keen to perform well in the tourney after a heartbreaking defeat to Yanzhe-Dongping in the semi-finals of the home Open.
Tang Jie told the Badminton World Federation (BWF): “We just finished the Malaysian Open and we are still trying to regain our momentum on court.
“We are trying to adjust our condition and maintain our physical fitness to give a good performance here.”
On reaching No. 3 in the world, Tang Jie said: “The ranking is just a number. For us, definitely we are proud of ourselves to be in this situation but we need to stay humble and hungry.
“Our priority is to stay healthy and try to be more consistent in every tournament.”
Ee Wei said: We want to keep improving our skills and mental strength. We need to be more mature on court.”
Meanwhile, another pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie also reached their career best ranking of No. 4.
The independent duo moved up two spots after making it into the last four of the home Open as well before going down fighting to Dechapol-Supissara.
Soon Huat-Shevon will open their campaign in India today against Indonesia’s Rinov Rivaldy-Lisa Ayu.
It was the end of the road though for world No. 18 Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin after they went down 18-21, 15-21 to Japan’s world No. 13 Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito.
It was Pang Ron-Su Yin’s second consecutive early exit after they lost to Taiwan’s Lu Ming-che-Hung En-tzu in the opening round in the Malaysian tourney.
