PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah booked their place in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games quarter-finals after beating Thailand’s Napapakorn Tungkasatan-Hathaihip Mijad on Saturday (Sept 26).
Pearly-Thinaah had little trouble in their second round match at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium, cruising to a 21-8, 21-12 win.
They will next face either Japan’s Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto or India’s Gayatri Gopichand-Treesa Jolly for a place in the semi-finals.
While Pearly-Thinaah are safely through to the last eight, men’s singles shuttlers Leong Jun Hao and Justin Hoh face much tougher hurdles to join them.
Jun Hao, who eased past Mongolia’s Batdavaa Munkhbat 21-11, 21-14, will take on Alwi Farhan in the third round.
The Indonesian will be a tough nut to crack after playing his part in Indonesia’s comeback 3-2 win over China in the men’s team final earlier in the Games.
Justin also faces a daunting task against a former world champion, Loh Kean Yew after cruising past Bangladesh’s Gourab Singha 21-8, 21-7 to reach the third round.
