Badminton: Loh and Hee into second round of Malaysia Open
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Loh Kean Hean (left) and Terry Hee competing at the 31st SEA games in Vietnam, on May 21, 2022.
ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
KUALA LUMPUR - Singapore's badminton men's doubles pair Loh Kean Hean and Terry Hee beat South Korea's 46th-ranked Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae 21-14, 21-19 in the first round of the Malaysia Open on Wednesday (June 29).
The world No. 50 pair will play Malaysia's world No. 6 Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the round of 16 on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Hee had partnered his wife Tan Wei Han in the mixed doubles, where they beat Indonesia's 325th-ranked Hafiz Faizal and Serena Kani 21-14, 21-18.
The world No. 39 duo will face Denmark's 15th-ranked Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje today for a place in the quarter-finals.
The unseeded Danes stunned third seeds Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino from Japan 15-21, 21-17, 22-20.
In the men's singles, Japan's second seed Kento Momota was given a walkover by Thai Kantaphon Wangcharoen while the hosts' fifth-seeded Lee Zii Jia beat Ireland's Nguyen Nhat 21-15, 21-11.
Women's singles second seed Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei and fourth seed Chen Yufei of China also progressed to the second round.
The Taiwanese eased past Belgian Lianne Tan 21-13, 21-9 while Chen beat compatriot Zhang Yiman 21-18, 21-8.
In Tuesday's first round, Singapore's top men's singles player, world No. 9 and reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew, had lost 21-19, 21-12 to Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu, while top women's player Yeo Jia Min fell to South Korean third seed An Se-young 21-12, 21-15.
