Bangkok: The World No. 14 men’s doubles pair, Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong began their quest for the Thailand Open title on Tuesday in a spectator-free arena by beating compatriots and World No. 8 pair Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik in a one-sided match with 21-7, 21-19 in 28 minutes.
Goh/Tan will face Ben Lane/Sean Vendy of England on Thursday.
Another Malaysia men’s pair, World No. 28 Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin however was made to work before pulling off an upset to beat World No. 25 and the 2014 World Champions Ko Sung-Hyun/Shin Baek-Cheol of Korea in 61 minutes.
Goh/Izzuddin came back from a 9-14 deficit in the first game to win the game 21-16. In the second set, Goh/Izzuddin tried to fight back from 2-7, 16-18 but eventually had to surrender with 19-21.
In the decider, the Malaysian duo was unleashing a lot of strong smashes, and the Korean pair, especially Ko Sung-Hyun seemed slow in returning those attacks and also committed several unforced errors on the net to allow the Malaysians to wrap up the third-set 21-11.
Goh/Izzuddin will face Mathias Christiansen/Niclas Nohr of Denmark next.
In mixed doubles, Malaysia’s World No. 6 Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying battled through a stirring challenge from Adnan Maulana/Mychelle Crhystine Bandaso of Indonesia by winning their first-round match 22-20, 21-18. They will next take on Robin Tabeling/Selena Piek of the Netherlands.
Another Malaysian mixed doubles pair, Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai also cruised into the second round and will meet No. 1 seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand.
