No sweat as Malaysian shuttlers cruise into next round

BIRMINGHAM: All five Malaysian representatives breezed through their round of 32 badminton individual matches in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games at the National Exhibition Centre Hall 5 here yesterday.

Top national men's singles shuttler Ng Tze Yong trounced Pakistan's Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti 21-10, 21-9 and will next face Ajfan Rasheed after the Maldives player defeated Ghanaian Ahmad Abdul Samad 21-16, 21-14.

Professional women's singles shuttler Goh Jin Wei then outplayed Cindy Etornam Esi Tornyenyorm 21-3, 21-1 to set up a date with Tamisha Janelle Williams after the Barbados shuttler prevailed 21-17, 10-21, 21-19 against Jemimah Leung For Sang of Mauritius.

National mixed doubles pairs Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing and Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See also cruised into the round of 16 after beating Pulltoo Tejraj-Mungrah Ganesha of Mauritius 21-5, 21-8 and Singapore's Kwek Andy Jun Liang-Jin Yujia 21-8, 21-13 respectively.

The Malaysians will be up against Australians opponens in the round of 16, with Kian Meng-Pei Jing taking on Lin Ying Xiang-Gronya Somerville and Peng Soon-Yee See facing Jack Yu-Kaitlyn Ea.

Earlier, Ying Xiang-Somerville beat Uganda's Brian Kasirye-Fadilah Shamika Mohamed Rafi 21-10, 21-6 while Yu-Ea overcame Tahlia Richardson-Samuel Ricketts of Jamaica 21-13, 16-21, 21-8.

Kian Meng and Peng Soon then teamed up in men's doubles to dispose of Aatish Lubah-Georges Paul of Mauritius 21-12, 21-11 and check into the round of 16.

Up next for the Malaysians will be Scottish pair Alexander Dunn-Adam Hall, who beat Georges Paul-Dookhee Kobita of Mauritius, 21-7, 21-8.

-- BERNAMA