Badminton: Zulfadli Spearheads M'sian Challenge In Second Round Of Dutch Open Grand Prix Gold

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 (Bernama) -- Zulfadli Zulkiffli, the 2011 world junior champion, spearheaded the Malaysian badminton team into the second round of the Dutch Open Grand Prix Gold at the Topsportcentrum Arena in Almere, Netherlands, on Wednesday. Zulfadli, who is still chasing his first title of the season, easily beat France's Lucas Claerbout 21-11, 21-10, in 37 minutes in the men's singles. The sixth-seeded shuttler is scheduled to face Finnish veteran, Ville Lang in the second round on Wednesday night at 10.30pm local time (4.30am Malaysian time). Polish International Series 2015 winner Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin, Goh Soon Huat and Soo Teck Zhi also advanced to the second round after defeating their respective opponents in the first round. Iskandar stunned India's Anand Pawar 21-10,21-15,; Goh beat Adi Pratama from Indonesia 21-16, 21-13 while Soo beat France's Lucas Corvée 21-18, 21-16. Meanwhile, two national men's singles players were knocked out in the first round. Zulfadli's brother, Zulhelmi decided to quit the match in the second set while trailing Chun-Wei Chen of Taiwan, 19-20. He had lost the first set 12-21. Junior player Chiang Jiann Shiarng lost 9-21, 15-21 to Lithuania's Kestutis Navickas. Several other Malaysian players, including former world champions Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong are scheduled to begin their campaign early Thursday morning. Malaysia did not send representatives for the women's singles and doubles as well as the mixed doubles to the tournament which offers prize money worth a total of US$50,000 (RM209,440). -- BERNAMA