Men’s doubles top seeds Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong will face compatriots and sixth seeds Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi for a place in the semi-finals in the USD150,000 Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters.
In another all-Malaysia quarter-final match eighth seeds Arif Abdul Latif-Nur Azriyn Ayub will face Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin.
V Shem-Wee Kiong who turned professionals this month swept past Japan’s Masato Takano-Yoshiki Tsukamoto 21-17, 21-13 while Yew Sin-Ee Yi stopped the Thai pair of Tinn Isriyanet-Niphitphon Phuangphuapet in 14 and 14.
Arif-Azriyn were also involved in a three-game thriller before coming through 19-21, 21-14, 21-16 in an hour-long match while Sze Fei-Izzuddin outplayed Lin Chia Yu-Yang Ming-tse of Chinese Taipei 21-15, 21-17.
However, in the last tie of the night at the Huamark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok on Thursday it was the end for the second seeded Malaysian pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik who fell to a shock 26-28, 16-21 defeat to unseeded Keiichiro Matsui-Yoshinori Takeuchi of Japan .
Top seeds Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying stayed on course to defend their title in the mixed doubles with an impressive 21-18, 21-10 win over Russians Rodion Alimov-Alina Davletova in 32 minutes.
The Rio Olympics silver medalists who quit the national team at the beginning of this month will face Indonesia’s Alfian Eko Prasetya-Marsheilla Gischa Islam who upset seventh seeded Malaysians Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei 23-21, 20-22, 21-12 in a 51-minute encounter.
Malaysia also kept their interest in the men’s singles alive with Cheam June Wei earning a quarter-final clash against Chinese legend and top seed Lin Dan to join Lee Zii Jia in the last eight.
June Wei, promoted from the qualifying round, came back from a game down to triumph 14-21, 21-17, 21-16 against Thailand’s Pannawit Thongnuam in 53 minutes while Lin Dan battled for 72 minutes to subdue Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-19, 15-21, 22-20.
Zii Jia was also fully stretched by Hong Kong veteran Vincent Wong Wing Ki before prevailing 11-21, 21-19, 21-15 in 55 minutes. He faces Frenchman, seventh seed Brice Leverdez who downed India’s Subhankar Dey 21-19, 21-10. RIZAL ABDULLAH
