MALAYSIA OPEN 2011 Day 3 – New British pair forges on

Robert Blair and Gabrielle White fought through qualifying but still had the juice left to dispatch China’s Xu and Yu in the second round of the 2011 Proton Malaysia Open Super Series.

By Adrian Kok, Badzine Correspondent live in Kuala Lumpur. Photos: Yves Lacroix for Badmintonphoto (live)

The new Scottish/English pairing of Robert Blair and Gabrielle White played an impressive match today. Fighting from the qualifying round all the way to 2^nd round is an impressive feat. They beat 3 different Malaysian mixed doubles pairs to get to where they are today, where their opponents for the day were Xu Chen and Yu Yang from China, who have already reached two Super Series semi-finals in their short, post-World Championship partnership.

The first game was nail-biter that showcased impressive defense from the Chinese pair. Blair kept thundering down smashes at both the Chinese pairs and slowly the Chinese defense began to break. The Chinese fought their hardest – Xu noticing weakness in White’s defense and capitalizing on it – but Blair/White raced to the 21^st point faster.

Blair/White continued their performance in the second game. Using the similar strategy as the first game, Blair pounding from the back while White intercepted the loose returns from the Chinese. Blair/White confirmed the power of their new partnership and took the second game 21-14.

Tomorrow they will face Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul from Thailand. The Thais beat the Japanese pair of Shintaro Ikeda / Reiko Shiota, thus avenging the loss of their top-seeded compatriots a day ago.  China, meanwhile, still has 3 pairs in the quarter-finals.  Defending champion Tao Jiaming is back with new partner Tian Qing and the China Open champions dispatched Korea’s Kim/Yoo in the only mixed match to go to three games.

For complete results from Day 3 of the 2011 Proton Malaysia Open Super Series, CLICK HERE