Two Malaysian Pairs Cruise Into India Open Quarterfinals

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 (Bernama) -- Two Malaysian pairs advanced to the last eight of the India Open Super Series Badminton Tournament held at the Siri Fort Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, India on Thursday. Men's top doubles pair, Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong who are also the top seeds in the tournament defeated the scratch Malaysia/Indonesia scratch pair Tan Boon Heong/Hendra Setiawan 21-10, 21-17 in the second round, according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website www.bwfbadminton.org. They will meet 2017 All-England runner-up, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen of China in the last eight tomorrow since the fifth seeded pair had edged Danish pair Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-12, 23-21 in another second round match. Malaysia's top mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying also made it to the next round by defeating unheralded Indonesian pair Edi Subaktiar/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja 21-11, 21-19. They will meet the winner of the match between Kim Gi Jung/Shin Seung Chanof South Korea and Mathias Christiansen/Sara Thygesen of Denmark. Malaysia did not send any representatives for three other events - men's singles, women's singles and doubles -- in the US$325,000 (RM1.436 million) tournament. Three-times India Open champion Lee Chong Wei decided to skip the tournament to concentrate on winning his 12th title at the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier Badminton Tournament to be held in Kuching, east Malaysian state Sarawak from April 4-9. --BERNAMA