Potential for Titanic Clash – Day 2: YONEX-SUNRISE Hong Kong Open 2018
Kim Gi Jung and Lee Yong Dae set tongues wagging about a prospective quarter-final clash versus world top guns, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, as they progressed to the YONEX-SUNRISE Hong Kong…
· GAYLE ALLEYNE I BADMINTONPHOTO
Kim Gi Jung and Lee Yong Dae set tongues wagging about a prospective quarter-final clash versus world top guns, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, as they progressed to the YONEX-SUNRISE Hong Kong Open 2018 second round today.
The resurgent Koreans (featured image) – not long ago part of a stellar crop of Men’s Doubles exponents from that nation – showed they are still a class act, pummeling No.7 seeds Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding of Denmark, 21-12 21-11, in their opening fixture at the Hong Kong Coliseum. Kim and Lee will be up against familiar faces in the second round, drawn against their compatriots, Chung Eui Seok/Kim Dukyoung. The latter came through qualification and then held their nerves in a nail-biting first-round battle to thwart Thailand’s Kittinupong Kedren and Dechapol Puavaranukroh (21-11 16-21 21-18).
Earlier in the evening, Indonesia’s star pair kept on track for the tantalizing Kim-Lee clash, comfortably beating Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe, 21-14 21-15, in just 28 minutes. Fresh from winning last week’s Fuzhou China Open 2018, the Gideon-Sukamuljo juggernaut will next tackle veteran duo, Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen. The Danes swept aside India’s rising sons, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, 21-19 23-21. Men’s Doubles also witnessed the demise of No.2 seeds, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen of China and No.5 seeds Chen Hung Ling/Wang Chi-Lin of Chinese Taipei. Ironically, the latter were defeated by a Chinese tandem, He Jiting/Tan Qiang (21-17 22-20), while it was Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei/Lee Yang who beat Li/Liu (21-12 21-15). Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong