KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 – Rio Olympics mixed doubles silver medal winners Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying failed to clear their first hurdle at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with three-game defeat to Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet 18-21, 21-10, 21-16.
It was a roller-coaster ride for the Malaysian professionals who won silver in Rio in 2016 after a 14-21, 16-21 defeat to Indonesians Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir in the gold medal match.
Liu Ying, who was one of the two Malaysian flag bearer at the opening ceremony in Tokyo, and Peng Soon, their dream of winning a medal in the land of the rising sun, however, will have to shed their self-made mistakes to keep their hopes alive in Group D.
They must beat Germans Mark Lamfuss-Isabel Herttrich on Sunday and group favorites and World No 2 Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping of China on Monday. Only the top two in the group will advance to the knockout stage.
”We gave away soft points through our mistakes. This cost us dearly,” said Peng Soon on the defeat to the Hong Kong pair who have a 6-1 lead over the Malaysian opponents.
It was also a defeat for Malaysia in the women’s doubles when Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean crashed to a 21-14, 21-17 defeat to Indonesians Greysia Polii-Rahayu Apriyani – a defeat that has seriously dented their quarter-finals hopes from Group A.
The Malaysian number one pair, ranked 11, next play top seeds and current world No 1 Sayaka Hirota- Yuki Fukushima before facing Chloe Birch-Lauren Smith of Great Britain.
There was some cheer in the Malaysian camp when top men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik registered a straight game win over World No 7 Choi Solgyu-Seo Seungjae of South Korea.
The number nine ranked Malaysians, however, had a tough first game in their 24-22, 21-15 win over the Koreans. The reigning Sea Games champions, need extra spark in their game to overcome second seeds Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia in their next match.
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