Badminton

Yew Sin-Ee Yi stun Olympic champions in All England opener

KUALA LUMPUR: World No 8 Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi led the way as the nation's independent players did well  on the opening day of the All England today.

Yew Sin-Ee Yi recovered from a tame display in the opening game to oust reigning Olympic champions Lee Yang Wang-Chi Lin 12-21, 21-16, 21-18 at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.

It marked Yew Sin-Ee Yi's third straight win in six encounters over the Taiwanese duo.

Yew Sin-Ee Yi, who have never made it past the last 16, take on  defending champions Muhammad Shobihul Fikri-Bagas Maulana of Indonesia in the the second round on Thursday.

World No 6 Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing also emerged triumphant in the opening round  of the mixed doubles with a routine 21-19, 21-18 win over No 11 Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas Mentari.

Kian Meng-Pei Jing will face Japan's Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matsutomo next for a place in the last eight.

Kaneko-Matsutomo advanced after overcoming a spirited challenge from Malaysian pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei 21-19, 22-24, 21-17.

Ee Wei said: "We gave our best, but our opponents were better.

"We are a new pair, and this is the process and challenge we must go through to improve.

"I'm sad that my debut ended this way, but with Tang Jie, we will never give up."

In the women's doubles, there was no happy return for Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah in Birmingham as they were sent packing early by 2021 winners Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara of Japan.

Pearly-Thinaah, who won the Commonwealth Games gold in the same city last year, lost 21-13, 15-21, 21-15  to the two-time world champions.

The win saw Mayu-Wakana exact revenge on last week's first quarter-final defeat in Mulheim.

"Pearly and Thinaah did not prepare well enough, and this led to a poor opening game.

"In the second game, they held their nerves to force the match into a decider.

"But they committed way too many errors in the decider which cost them dearly," said national coach Hoon Thien How.

Goh Jin Wei also failed to progress in the women's singles after retiring midway through the third game when she was trailing 13-12 against Yvonne Li of Germany due to exhaustion.

She did well to claim the opening game 21-12 but lost 22-20 in the second.

RESULTS

First round:

Men's singles: Zhao Jun Peng (Chn) bt Loh Kean Yew (Sin) 21-16, 16-21, 21-7; Anthony Ginting (Ina) bt Kantaphon Wangcharoen (Tha) 21-17, 21-19; H. S. Prannoy (Ind) bt Wang Tzu Wei (Tpe) 21-19, 22-20; Lakhsya Sen (Ind) bt Chou Tien Chen (Tpe) 21-18, 21-19;

Women's singles: Chen Yu Fei (Chn) bt Michelle Li (Can) 22-20, 21-14; Lalinrat Chaiwan (Tha) bt Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 21-16, 21-17; Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) bt Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) 21-11, 21-15; Yvonne Li (Ger) bt Goh Jin Wei (Mas) 12-21, 22-20, 13-12 ret;

Men's doubles: Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (Mas) bt Lee Yang-Wang Chi Lin (Tpe) 12-21, 21-16, 21-18; Muhammad Shobihul Fikri-Bagas Maulana (Ina) bt Kim Gi Jung-Kim Sa Rang (Kor) 21-15, 13-21, 21-16;

Women's doubles: Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan (Chn) bt Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (Jpn) 21-11, 21-13; Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara (Jpn) bt Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (Mas) 21-13, 15-21, 21-15;

Mixed doubles: Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (Mas) bt Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas Mentari (Ina) 21-19, 21-18; Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matsutomo (Jpn) bt Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (Mas) 21-19, 22-24, 21-17.

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