KUALA LUMPUR: Despite nursing a thumb injury, newly crowned women's singles champion Natasha Roslan continued to blaze the lanes in the doubles at the World Championships to stay on course for back-to-back titles.
Teaming up with Sin Li Jane, whom she beat to the singles gold days ago, the duo won four of their five matches yesterday to qualify for the next round as Group A winners.
The top four pairs in the six-pair contest will progress and Natasha-Li Jane finished top on the standings.
It will be tricky for Natasha as she is playing with a severe torn skin on her right thumb.
"My thumb got worse after today, but thank God, Jane and I made it to the second round," said Natasha.
Also through were Esther Cheah-Gillian Lim who did well to finish as second in Group B.
The combination of Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman-Nora Lyana Nastasia Norkamal were the only first round casualties after finishing fifth in Group C with just one win.
In the men's division, Malaysian pair Ahmad Muaz Fishol-Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek made a big statement by dominating Group A.
Needing a top two finish to make the cut, they combined brilliantly to pick up maximum 15 points to qualify as champions.
It underlined Muaz and Syafiq's determination to bounce back from their singles competition disappointment after failing to get past the first stage.