Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi and Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei are the only national representatives through to the Malaysia Open quarter-finals with impressive wins, as the rest faltered in the second round on Thursday.
Ong-Teo battled back from a game down to beat Chinese Taipei’s Lu Ching Yao-Yang Po Han 17-21, 21-13, 21-14 courtesy of some resilient defending.
The pair came back strongly to level the scores after losing the opening game, which they dominated by leaving little room for error for their opponents to exploit.
“They made mistakes which gave us the win, so we won’t be too satisfied with that. But what we can be proud of ourselves is the fact we slowed down the game which worked well for us,” they said.
Ong-Teo have a mammoth task in the last eight as they face last season’s serial winners Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto.
As for Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, even though they were just recently paired, they looked like a seasoned combination after dishing out a 21-19, 21-16 defeat to Rehan Naufal-Lisa Ayu.
The mixed doubles pair also have a huge test against Thailand’s second seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai in the quarter-finals.
The rest of the Malaysians all exited the Super 1000 event held at the Axiata Arena.
The most heartbreaking loss of all was Ng Tze Yong, who was touching distance from claiming a big victory against Kodai Naraoka, but let a priceless lead slip in the second game that proved the catalyst for the Japanese’s 15-21, 21-19, 21-15 victory.
Ng had taken the first game against the shuttler who dumped out Lee Zii Jia in the opening round.
He looked good for the straight game victory with a 19-16 lead in the second game, doing the opposite of Lee by being patient in the long rallies and only striking when he was confident of winning the point.
Naraoka, meanwhile, looked down and out as he looked out of breath in the second game.
But against all odds, Naraoka turned the tables to level the scores with a 21-19 win, and found the composure needed to come away the win after 92 minutes of pulsating badminton.
About the crucial points dropped in the second game, Ng said: “I did not manage the situation well, and he took advantage. He's an experienced player even though he is still young. It's because he has been playing in high level tournaments.
"This defeat is a learning experience for me," he said.
Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai, Goh Jin Wei, Hoo Pang Ron-Teoh Mei Xing, Teoh-Go Pei Kee all lost their matches.
Liew Dare,n meanwhile, had to withdraw against Viktor Axelsen after failing to recover from a calf injury sustained on Tuesday.
