By Harry Izzdin
KUCHING: National mixed doubles shuttlers Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei advance to the India Open quarter-finals after staging a remarkable comeback to defeat the Thai pair of Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran earlier today.
Dechapol and Supissara, who began their partnership last year, had already shown their potential by defeating Malaysia’s world No 5 pair Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai in the semi-finals of the Malaysia Open last week.
After dropping the first game, the Malaysian duo bounced back to win 19-21, 21-12, 22-20 in a thrilling match that lasted for 64 minutes.
Speaking in a post-match interview with Badminton World Federation (BWF), Tang Jie said “We stuck to our strategy, although we had made a couple of mistakes for the 20-17 set game.
“We discussed it among each other and with our coach, but I think the most important thing is that we believed in each other.”
“Everyone is bound to feel the pressure when (they are) competing, but the important thing was how we release it on court.
“For us, we tried to make it hard for them to get points from us, and that was the mindset we kept,” he said.
The world No 3 Malaysian pair will face Thailand’s world No 32 pair, Oupthong Ruttanpak and Sudjaipraparat Jhenicha, in the quarter-finals at 11.30 am tomorrow (Jan 17).
India Open 2025 takes place at the K. D. Jadhav Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, India from Jan 14 to 19.
