MALAYSIA GPG 2011 R16 – World Champs down in 2nd

World Champion Chen Jin was in familiar territory, losing to Japan’s Sho Sasaki for the second time in 3 weeks, but 2007 World Champions and 2nd seeds Kido/Setiawan unexpectedly let young Malaysians Mohd Lutfi Zaim Abdul Khalid / Vountus Indra Mawan get the better of them on Thursday at the Malaysia Grand Prix Gold.

By Wilson Chew, Badzine Correspondent live in Alor Setar.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (archives)

The women’s singles winner of India Open Super Series crashed out tamely to her opponent, 18-21, 13-21.  Porntip Buranaprasertsuk’s performance does not show that she won the title with convincing display.  Ai Goto (pictured below) managed to beat the new world #9 and will meet Wang Xin in the quarter-finals.  Wang Xin beat a gritty Ratchanok Intanon 21-15, 22-20.  Ratchanok did well in the second game to scare Wang Xin but although trailing the youngster 10-16 at one time, the 2009 runner-up managed to fight back strongly and won the second game gallantly.  Sapsiree Taerattanachai lost too and that ended the Thai singles interest in this tournament.

Malaysia won only 5 out of 13 matches today, which means that Malaysia will have only Lee Chong Wei, Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong, Lufti Zaim / Vountus Indra Mawan, Chan Peng Soon / Goh Liu Ying and Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari / Ng Hui Lin in Friday’s quarter-finals.

Beryno Wong did not manage to beat Brice Leverdez and he did not look convincing in his display in this match.  Tan Aik Quan/Lai Pei Jing’s impressive run in this tournament also comes to an end when they lost to Tantowi Nasir/Liliyana Natsir, 13-21, 13-21.  All in all, though, it was not the mixed doubles dominance we have come to expect from Indonesia on Thursday.  After scraping through the first round, former top pair Nova Widianto / Vita Marissa lost a close one to Japan’s Ikeda/Shiota while the other Widianto – Riky, playing with new partner Shendy Puspa Irawati – could not follow up their impressive first round performance and went down in two to Thailand’s Maneepong Jongjit (pictured below) and Savitree Amitapai.

The Netherlands have 2 representatives in the quarter-finals and their men’s doubles pair of Ruud Bosch/Koen Ridder played above expectation with their strong display of smashes, returns and skills to overcome Naoki Kamawae/Shoji Sato in rubber game.

Japan had both success and disappointment on the day.  Although Sho Sasaki added another upset of Chen Jin to his success in Chengdu two weeks ago and Ai Goto continued her winning ways, Eriko Hirose was unable to repeat the success she had against Wang Lin the last time the two met in Malaysia.  Also, last week’s runners-up Mizuki Fujii / Reika Kakiiwa lost their grudge match to Korea’s Kim Ha Na / Jung Kyung Eun (pictured below), who had lost narrowly to the Japanese pair in the quarter-finals in India.

Malaysia’s top women’s doubles pair were stretched to the limit and with careful movement from Wong Pei Tty who has just recovered from her knee surgery, they were unable to perform well and eventually lost the rubber game to China’s Luo Ying / Luo Yu.

Some of the biggest stars at the tournament, Saina Nehwal, Lee Chong Wei, Wang Lin, Wang Xin, Jiang Yanjiao and Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong, all won their second round matches in contrasting fashion.  Chong Wei was well tested by Tommy Sugiarto and if Tommy has more experience, he has shown he will be able to beat the likes of Lee Chong Wei.

The most spectacular contest of the day has to be the match between Markis Kido / Hendra Setiawan and Vountus Indra Mawan / Mohd Lutfi Zaim Abdul Khalid (pictured top).  The Malaysians were so agressive and their tactical play impressed an impressive and sizeable crowd on Thursday.

For complete results, CLICK HERE