Alan Chan has advanced to the third round of the badminton open. Photo / Dean Purcell
New Zealand No 1 John Moody put on a brave effort but succumbed 21-13, 21-13 to former World No 1 and 2003 World Championship finalist Choong Hann Wong of Malaysia during the second day of the US$50,000 New Zealand Open yesterday.
Wong, who has recently recovered from a
ruptured Achilles tendon, moved around the court effortlessly, returning every shot.
Wong now faces Australian Jeff Tho in the third round and looks to be a dark horse for the title.
The second day proved to be relatively predictable with no major upsets and a few of the big names showing their class.
The top-seeded player in the men's singles, Andrew Smith (England) ranked 13 in the world, cruised through to the third round after trouncing New Zealander Jah Fei Lee 21-7, 21-10. Smith plays Iranian Kaveh Mehrabi in his next match.
The tournament winner of two years ago, Sairul Amar Ayob, had a slow start to his first match being pushed by Portuguese player Marco Vasconcelos with Ayob eventually winning 21-14, 21-18.
New Zealand national team member Alan Chan overcame shin splints and his Indonesian opponent, Hartanto Wahyu, 21-9, 21-17 to go through to the third round where he will face seventh seed Kay Bin Yeoh of Malaysia. He is now the only New Zealand men's singles player left in the tournament.
One of the best matches of round three will feature Wei Ng, the fifth seed from Hong Kong and Indonesian Andre Tedjono. Both players have good form (Tedjono was a quarter-finalist at the Indonesian Open).
There were a couple of minor upsets in the women's singles with the defeats of fifth seed Kanako Yonekura at the hands of countrywoman Yoshimi Hataya in straight games and Malaysian sixth seed Sutheaswari Mudeukasan lost to Korean Soo Young Jang in straight games.
Kiwi No 1 and badminton pinup-girl Rachel Hindley beat Yu Wakita 21-16, 21-16, to set up a clash against Maria Elfira Christina (Indonesia) in the third round.
