KUALA LUMPUR: National No 1, Lee Chong Wei will square off against India’s K. Srikanth once more in the quarter-finals of the Asia Badminton Championships in Wuhan, China tomorrow (Friday) – the third encounter in 12 days between the two players who faced each other twice at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
The highly-anticipated match between the two materialised as both players managed to win their second round matches, with Chong Wei battling hard to tame Indonesian 12th seed Anthony Ginting, 21-16, 21-0, 21-11 over an hour.
World No. 5 Srikanth did not have to work as hard in his match against Hong Kong’s Vincent Wong who withrew due to injury in the first game where Srikanth was leading 7-2.
The meeting between Chong Wei and Srikanth is expected to be an explosive encounter as both players are tied 1-1 after meeting twice during the Commonwealth Games, with Srikanth getting the better of Chong Wei in the mixed team final before Chong Wei exacted revenge for the loss by defeating him in the men’s singles final.
In men’s doubles, Malaysia’s top pair of Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong got the better of Indonesians Berry Angriawan-Hardianto Hardianto, who defeated them in the quarter-finals of the Singapore Open, by getting the better of the World No 25 pair this time round, winning 21-16, 21-18 in 35 minutes.
V Shem-Wee Kiong, who are the eighth seeds, will next face Japanese pair Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda in the quarter-finals, after the Japanese World No. 5 pair powered their way to defeat China’s He Jiting-Tan Qiang, 21-16, 21-17.
The last time a Malaysian pair won the men’s doubles title was back in 2006 and 2007 through Chong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah.
However in mixed doubles competition, Malaysia’s challenge came to an abrupt end when Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai went down in straight games to Indonesians Ricky Karandasuwardi-Debby Susanto, 21-16, 26-24.
It was the same in women’s doubles as well, as Soong Fie Cho-Tee Jing Yi succumbed to China’s Du Yue-Li Yinhui, 21-18, 21-10.