BWF World Championships: Triumphant return for Soniia after year-long lay-off

Despite not featuring competitively for a year, Soniia Cheah made a winning debut on her return after booking a second round berth at the BWF World Championships in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Cheah tamed Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-19, 21-18 and looked at ease throughout the contest, even as her opponent tried to close the deficit towards the end.

During her time outside the badminton court, the 29-year-old focused on her studies and her recovery from an ankle injury that had been troubling her since the Olympics.

The lanky women's singles shuttler said she chose to return for her love of the game.

"Badminton is in my blood. As long as I'm playing, I am happy. I didn't enjoy it as much earlier because when you're with the national team, the expectations are different. I couldn't find the value in badminton. Now I see the value in badminton, which is more than just results. That's why I came back," she said.

Cheah faces reigning Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei next in the second round.

Besides Cheah, it was a decent day in the office for several other Malaysians.

Women's doubles pair Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing did well to beat Germans Stine Kuspert-Emma Moszczynski 21-13, 21-15 and next take on South Koreans Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong.

In the mixed doubles, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing needed only 22 minutes to overcome Egyptians Misha-Svetlana Zilberman 21-6, 21-5.

In the men's singles, Ng Tze Yong did well to push Thailand's Sitthikom Thammasin till the end but eventually lost 9-21, 21-10, 19-21.

It was nonetheless an admirable effort from the youngster, who came back from 5-14 down to draw level at 19-19.

As for S. Kisona, was not at the races at all, slumping to a straight game defeat against her Vietnamese opponent in the women's singles.

In the women's doubles, Low Yeen Yuan-Valeree Siow also lost in straight games.

Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei did well against fourth seeds Wang Yi Lyu-Huang Dong Ping, but lost in three games in the mixed doubles.