TOP seed Liew Daren cruised into the quarter-finals of the Perak Open yesterday.
Daren, 27, who has not played competitive badminton since the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in August, dispatched both his opponents in the first and second round in straight games.
In the first round, Daren defeated Kuala Lumpur’s Ahmadi Abdul Saman 21-17, 21-16. He went on to beat Perak's Yeoh Kay Ee 21-14, 21-11 in the second round.
“I never really pushed myself, as both matches were not really difficult,” said Daren, who will meet his younger BA of Malaysia (BAM) teammate Soo Teck Zhi today.
On whether he could go on to win the championship in the absence of national No 2 Chong Wei Feng, Daren replied: “I don’t want to be over confident, but I will go out and give my best.”
Goh Soon Huat and Tan Kian Meng are the other BAM players who will feature in today’s quarter-finals, alongside Mohd Arif Abdul Latif (Negri Sembilan), Zulfadli Zulkiflli (Kuala Lumpur), K. Yogendran (Selangor) and Lim Fang Yang (Pahang).
Men’s doubles top seed Chooi Kah Ming-Teo Ee Yi are also through to the quarter-finals, following their comfortable 21-16, 21-15 win over Perak’s Chow Pak Chuu-Lee Wan Wah.
The top seeds in the women’s and mixed doubles all received first round byes and will take to the court today, while the women’s singles will commence with the quarter-finals directly as there are only eight players in the draw. By Fabian Peter