Malaysian Soo Advances To Second Round Of Welsh Open Badminton Tourney

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 2 (Bernama) -- Malaysian shuttler Soo Teck Zhi cruised to the second round of the Welsh Open International Challenge Badminton Championships at the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff, Wales on Thursday. The unseeded player defeated Mateusz Dubowski of Poland, winning in straight set 21-19 and 21-19 in the opening match of the men's singles, according to the Wales Badminton website;www.badminton.wales. Soo, however, would face an uphill task in the second round on Friday against the second seed, Brice Leverdez, after the French shuttler defeated Luka Wraber of Austria 21-17 and 21-14 in another opening round encounter. Another Malaysian player Soong Joo Ven suffered a contrasting fate after losing 12-21 and 13-21 to top seed, Hsu Jen Hao of Taiwan. In the mixed doubles event, Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai pulled off an upset by stunning the eighth seed Gregory Mairs/Jenny Moore of England 25-23 and 21-12 in the opening round. A few Malaysian players in three other events -- men's doubles and also the women's singles and doubles -- will kick-off their campaign on late Thursday. --BERNAMA