Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin will square off against top pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in tomorrow’s second-round encounter after prevailing over their respective rivals in today’s first round of the PETRONAS Malaysia Open 2024 at Axiata Arena here.
While Goh-Sze won their match against Thai pair Sopak Jomkoh-Kittinupong Kedren in straight sets of 21-17, 22-20 in 38 minutes, Aaron-Soh were given a scare by Danish pair Rasmus Kjaer-Frederick Sogaard after dropping the first game 20-22, before clawing back strongly to win 21-13, 21-13 in 62 minutes.
On a day when national mixed pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (8th seed) also progressed further after brushing aside French pair Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue 21-17, 21-18, it was the end of the road for national singles player Ng Tze Yong who was forced to retire after only 10 minutes into his match game against Japan’s Koki Watanabe.
Ng suffered a sudden back injury and had no choice but to retire at 12-8 despite trying to get back into action after a brief treatment by the tournament’s doctor.
“I felt a sharp pain on my back after executing a smash… It was quite painful but I’m still not sure about the extent of the injury. I apologise to the home fans but it’s just difficult to carry on,” said a dejected Ng.
Aaron-Wooi Yik meanwhile, said they managed to keep calm and remained focused despite losing the first game to the Danish pair. “It was our first meeting, so anything can happen. But we managed to stay calm, focussed and at the same time, avoid errors and came up with a better strategy in the last two games to take the match,” said Aaron.
Goh and Izzuddin meanwhile were the better pair today, playing aggressively while ensuring solid defence in their second meeting against their Thai rival. “It’s all good today, but in the second game we made some mistakes and had to play hard to wrap up the game,” said Goh.
“Up against Aaron-Wooi Yik tomorrow, we’ll play hard and give our best,” said Izzuddin.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s other women pair, Anna Cheong-Teo Mei Xing and Goh Pei Kee-Low Yeen Yuan lost in their respective counters with the former losing 14-21, 13-21 at the hands of Korea’s eighth seed Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee. Goh-Low lost to China’s Zhang Shi Xian/Zheng Yu 21-13, 21-13.
Goh Jin Wei progressed to the second round to meet Indonesia’s seventh seed Gregoria Mariska Tunjung after beating Sung Shuo Yun in today’s first round.
Chan Peng Soon/Cheah Yee See also stormed into the second round and are up against China’s fifth seed Jiang Zhen Bang-We Ya Xin tomorrow.
There were no upsets in the women’s singles as top stars including Tai Tzu Ying 4th seed), second seed Chen Yufei (China) and Ratchanok Intanon all progressed to the next round.
Top contenders Kodai Naraoka (second seed), Anders Antonsen (Denmark), Shi Yuqi (China) and Thailand’s former world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn all made it into the second round.
