National mixed doubles scratch pair Chan Peng Soon/Cheah Yee See claimed their first international title after winning the Russian Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton Tournament in Vladivostok, Russia today.

The pair defeated Keiichiro Matsui/Akane Araki of Japan 11-8, 13-11 and 11-3 in a match held at the Sport Hall Olympic, according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website; www.bwfbadminton.com.

Yee See, 22 who is the national back-up shuttler, filled the spot left by Goh Liu Ying who is currently recovering after successfully undergoing a knee treatment at a renowned sports science institute in Germany, recently.

Another Malaysian pair Chooi Kah Ming/Low Juan Shen who are the second seeds in the men's doubles competition, however, failed to emulate the winning feat of the mixed doubles pair when they lost 6-11, 9-11, 5-11 to top seeds Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov of Russia.

Earlier, Soniia Cheah who is also the top seed in the women's singles suffered an upset, losing 9-11, 11-5, 5-11,11-5, 4-11 to second seed Evgeniya Kosetskaya of Russia.

The country's challenge in two other events - men' singles and women's doubles - fizzled out after losing to their respective opponents in the preliminary round of the tournament which uses the 11-point scoring format.

-- BERNAMA