INDEPENDENT singles player Soong Joo Ven showed no sign of being affected by his exclusion from the Badminton Asia Championship by BAM when he defeated world No 30 Heo Kwang Hee for one of his biggest wins in recent times to storm into the quarter-finals of the Korea Masters.
The world No 68 downed Kwang Hee 21-11, 21-19 in just 40 minutes to put himself in a good position to reach his first World Tour-level semi-finals in five years.
Joo Ven, the Thailand Open semi-finalist in 2017, will take on two-time Olympian Misha Zilberman of Israel today.
"I'm very happy. It's been a while since I reached this far in a Super 300 or higher event," said Joo Ven.
"Beating a top 30 player like Kwang Hee means a lot to me and gives me a massive confidence boost. He's not only the current Korea No 1 who had beaten (Kento) Momota twice last year.
"I need it badly especially after having fared badly in the two tournaments in India earlier this year."
Joo Ven is treading with caution as he meets world No 49 Zilberman for the first time.
"It won't be an easy match for sure. At the Korea Open last week, he had just beaten China's Li Shifeng, I need to watch out for him," said Joo Ven.
Joo Ven's good run this week will serve as a perfect response to BAM's decision of not nominating him for the now-upgraded Super 1000 BAC despite being one of the top four ranked men's singles shuttlers in the country.
The world No 112 Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin did not qualify outright too, but he was chosen over Joo Ven and another independent player Cheam June Wei.
In the mixed doubles contest, Swiss Open finalists Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai are also through to the last eight after making short work of mother-son combination of Misha and Svetlana to win 21-5, 21-8 in just 21 minutes.
Shevon has hailed the 63-year-old Svetlana's longevity in the game, who she believed to be the oldest player still competing actively on the international circuit.
"The oldest opponent we had faced before today was probably Poland's Robert Mateusiak, who was in his 40s. That was back in 2016," said Shevon.
"But what a player Svetlana is. I found out that she's the reigning world senior champion. But for her to be still playing in the Open tournament against younger opponents, we really have to salute her for that.
"I don't think I would be able to play like her in my 60s!"
The win set up a quarter-final clash with Singapore's high-flying duo Terry Hee-Tan Wei Han, the Indian Open champions in January.
However, it was the end of the road for Goh Jin Wei in the women's singles, Goh V Shem-Low Juan Shen and Tan Kian Meng-Tan Wee Kiong (men's doubles) and Chan Peng Soon-Toh Ee Wei (mixed doubles).
RESULTS (MALAYSIANS ONLY)
Second round — Men's singles: Soong Joo Ven bt Misha Zilberman (Isr) 21-11, 21-19; Doubles: Choi Sol Gyu-Kim Won Ho (Kor) bt Tan Kian Meng-Tan Wee Kiong 21-17, 9-21, 21-13; Hiroki Okamura-Masayuki Onodera (Jpn) bt Goh V Shem-Low Juan Shen 16-21, 21-14, 24-22;
Women's singles: Wang Zhi Yi (Chn) bt Goh Jin Wei 20-22, 21-7, 21-12;
Mixed doubles: Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie bt Misha Zilberman-Svetlana Zilberman (Isr) 21-5, 21-8; Zheng Si Wei-Zhang Shu Xian (Chn) 21-18, 21-14.