The title defence of Shin Baek Choel and Ko Sung Hyun did not last beyond the second round as they crashed to Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong today.
The Men’s Doubles defending champions ran into a near-perfect performance by their Malaysian opponents, who gave them no opening to exploit as they closed it out 21-12 21-15.
Men’s Doubles also saw the exit of No.4 seeds and India Open champions Chai Biao/Hong Wei; the Chinese were stopped by Japan’s Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda, 18-21 21-17 21-13. There was more bad news for China later in the day as Cai Yun/Lu Kai lost a thriller to Japan’s Hirokatsu Hashimoto/Noriyasu Hirata, 12-21 21-18 23-21.
It was an extraordinary capitulation by Shin/Ko, recent Indonesia Open champions at the same venue. Right from the outset, the Malaysians controlled the play, with Tan working out openings at the forecourt and Goh capitalising on those openings. The Malaysians did not allow the Koreans the fast and furious exchanges at which they revel.
“We followed our game plan well and we kept our focus and did not make mistakes,” said Tan.
Kamura and Sonoda played a high-intensity game that caught Chai/Hong by surprise. Kamura in particular was a bundle of energy, darting around the court and firing winners left and right. By the end of the match, Chai and Hong lost heart, unable to find a way past their inspired opponents.
It was a good day for Indonesia, with Angga Pratama/Ricky Karanda Suwardi (13) and Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pankaryanira/Ade Yusuf following their compatriots Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan into the third round. However, Andrei Adistia/Hendra Aprida Gunawan fell to No.15 seeds Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Denmark; below), 21-17 21-17. Pankaryanira and Yusuf held their nerve in a tight match over Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov, 20-22 21-19 21-16.
However, local Men’s Singles hope Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka narrowly failed in stopping No.9 seed Son Wan Ho (above) . The Korean took his time to get into the match, frequently lost his lead in the third and flirted with disaster in the third until 16-all, after which he raced ahead to seal his place in the third round: 12-21 21-13 21-17.
Son faces second seed Jan O Jorgensen (Denmark), who eased past Milan Ludik (Czech Republic) 21-18 21-12. No.4 seed Kento Momota (Japan) was likewise untroubled by Canada’s Martin Giuffre, 21-14 21-9. Momota takes on Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh, who survived a long match against India’s Kashyap Parupalli.
Hot contender Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) dropped a game but shot past Germany’s Marc Zwiebler to earn a place against China’s Wang Zhengming.
“I tried my best but I just couldn’t match his pace in the third game. We are good friends; I hope he goes on to win the World Championships,” said Zwiebler.
In Women’s Doubles, Commonwealth Games champions Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei (Malaysia) were outdone by the defensive skills of Japan’s Kurumi Yonao/Naoko Fukuman 21-13 21-11. Korea’s Chang Ye Na/Jung Kyung Eun (10) and Netherlands’ Selena Piek/Eefje Muskens (11) progressed with relative ease.
There were no surprises in Women’s Singles, with seeds like India’s Saina Nehwal (2), Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon (5), Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying (4) and Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi (14; above) making the third round.