Easy Path For Malaysian Shuttlers In Two Thailand Meets

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysian shuttlers have received favourable draws in two Thailand Open badminton tournaments, namely the Yonex Thailand Open and the Toyota Thailand Open, slated to be held in Jan 2021. Based on the draw released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on their website;www.bwfbadminton.org, national number one men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia will kick off his campaign in the Yonex Thailand Open against H.S Prannoy of India in the first round. Barring any upset in the preliminary round, the eighth-seeded player is expected to meet the tournament’s second seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan in the quarter-finals. In the men’s doubles, it will be an all-Malaysian affair as the national number one pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik takes on former national duo Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong in the opening encounter. The national shuttlers should have a good chance of advancing in both tournaments after the Chinese Badminton Association (CBA) decided not to send their players amid concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. Both tournaments which are BWF World Tour Super 1000-level competitions, offer total prize money worth US$1 million (RM4.050 million), respectively. The Yonex Thailand Open will be held from Jan 12-17, while the Toyota Thailand Open will run from Jan 19-24. Yonex Thailand Open: First-round match (all Malaysian unless stated and [ ] denotes seedings): Men Singles: [8] Lee Zii Jia vs H.S Prannoy (IND) Liew Daren vs [3] Anders Antonsen (DEN) Men’s Doubles: Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Mohd Rumsani vs Ko Sung Hyun-Shin Baek Cheol (KOR) [8] Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik vs Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi vs M.R Arjun-Dhruv Kapila (IND) Women’s Singles: Soniia Cheah vs [7] An Se Young (KOR) Women’s Doubles: Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean vs Vimala Heriau-Margot Lambert (FRA) Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen vs Anastasiia Akchurina-Olga Morozova (RUS) Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah vs Benyapa Aimsaard-Nuntakarn Aimsaard (THA) Mixed Doubles: [1] Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA) vs Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai vs Ronan Labar-Anne Tran (FRA) [5] Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying vs Adnan Maulana-Mychelle Crhystine Bandaso (INA) Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing vs [3] Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino (JPN) Toyota Thailand Open: First-round match (all Malaysian unless stated and [ ] denotes seedings): Men Singles: [8] Lee Zii Jia vs Sameer Verma (IND) Liew Daren vs Sai Praneeth B. (IND) Men’s Doubles: Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi vs Nipitphon Phuangphuapet-Tanupat Viriyangkura (THA) Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Mohd Rumsani vs [4] Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe (JPN) Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong vs Kim Gi Jung-Lee Yong Dae (KOR) [8] Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik vs Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (JPN) Women’s Singles: Soniia Cheah vs Sung Ji Hyun (KOR) Women’s Doubles: Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen vs Chloe Birch-Lauren Smith (ENG) Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah vs [6] Chang Ye Na-Kim Hye Rin (KOR) Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean vs Rachel Honderich-Kristen Tsai (CAN) Mixed Doubles: Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai vs Ronan Labar-Anne Tran (FRA) [5] Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying vs Jones Ralfy Jansen-Kilasu Ostermeyer (GER) Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing vs [7] Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith (ENG) Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See vs Reddy B. Sumeeth-Reddy N. Sikki (IND) -- BERNAMA