Three M'sian shuttlers advance to quarterfinals of Polish International meet

Three Malaysian shuttlers cruised into the quarterfinals of the Polish International Badminton Challenge after escaping two hurdles in the preliminary round of the tournament held at Bosir Sport Hall in Poland, late Friday (early Saturday Malaysia time).

Lee Zii Jia edged Ben Torrance of Scotland, winning with 21-18 and 21-15 in the opening match, before defeating Morgan Lidman of Sweden 21-15 and 21-19 in the second round of the men's singles, according to the tournament website www.polishinternational.pl.

Leong Jun Hao also made it to the last eight by defeating Michael Spencer-Smith of England, 21-15 and 21-9, in the opening match before stunning the sixth seeds, Steffen Rasmussen of Denmark, 21-15 and 21-14, in the second round match in the same event.

Another Malaysian player, Soniia Cheah, who is fresh from winning her first international title -- Belgian International Challenge -- last week, also made it to the quarterfinals after edging two of her opponents in the women's singles.

She did not have to sweat in the opening round after her opponent, the sixth seeds, Croatian Dorotea Sutara, decided to withdraw due to an injury while trailing 7-18 in the opening set.

Cheah, then, defeated Rachael Darragh of Ireland, winning in straight-set 21-11 and 21-11 in the second round encounter.

Malaysia did not send representatives in three others events -- men's and women's doubles and also the mixed doubles event -- in this year's edition.

For the record, two Malaysian shuttlers - Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin and Ho Yen Mei - emerged victorious in the men's and women's singles event, respectively, in last year's edition. -- BERNAMA