A job well done: Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie beat Indonesia’s Rinov Rivaldy-Lisa Ayu in the first round. — Bernama
PETALING JAYA: The cold weather and challenge of playing a new pair did not stop mixed doubles shuttlers Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie from making a good start in the Indian Open.
World No. 4 Soon Huat-Shevon used all their experience to overcome Indonesia’s new combination Rinov Rivaldy-Lisa Ayu 21-17, 21-17 in the first round at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium in New Delhi yesterday.
Rinov previously partnered Pitha Haningtyas while Lisa was playing with Rehan Naufal but Indonesia decided to shake up their partnerships after both pairs failed to produce good results.
Rinov-Lisa were making their debuts together in India and Shevon admitted that it was a challenge to play against the new duo as well as to adapt to the cold weather in New Delhi and gave credit to Soon Huat for adjusting well on court.
“We are still trying to adjust to the cold weather here. We knew (that it will be cold) before we came here as every year it’s the same but we still need some time to get used to it,” Shevon told the Badminton World Federation (BWF) yesterday. “We take a bit more time to warm up as it’s much easier in Malaysia. In Europe and Delhi, it’s more of a challenge. For me, especially I took more time to adapt to the court conditions.
“I was also a bit anxious to play against a new pairing. We got more comfortable as the match went on. My partner also did a good job, he got into the game right away,” added Shevon.
Soon Huat-Shevon will next face another fairly new combination, Japan’s Yuta Watanabe-Maya Taguchi for a spot in the quarter-finals.
Watanabe won two silvers in the World Championships and two bronzes in the Olympics with previous partner Arisa Higashino before combining with the 19-year-old Taguchi after the Paris Games last August.
Watanabe-Taguchi defeated another Malaysian pair Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien 21-17, 21-15 to reach the second round.
Soon Huat-Shevon hold a slight advantage over the Japanese pair after beating them in three games in the Japan Masters last November.
Meanwhile, in the men’s doubles, world No. 27 Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi’s campaign ended early after they narrowly lost 12-21, 21-19, 15-21 to China’s world No. 3 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang in a hard- fought match.
RESULTS
(Malaysians only)
First round
Men’s doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun 23-21, 19-21, 21-16; Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang (Chn) bt Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi 21-12, 19-21, 21-15.
Mixed doubles: Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie bt Rinov Rivaldy-Lisa Ayu (Ina) 21-17, 21-17; Yuta Watanabe-Maya Taguchi (Jpn) bt Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien 21-17, 21-15.
