Two Malaysian mixed doubles pairs smash into India Open second round

KUALA LUMPUR: Mixed doubles pair Jimmy Wong-Lai Pei Jing ousted a former Olympic bronze medallist in the opening round of the India Open today.

The world No. 26 Malaysians defeated Japan's world No. 52 Yuta Watanabe-Maya Taguchi 21-10, 23-21 in 36 minutes at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi.

Watanabe won Olympic bronze medals at both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 with his former partner Arisa Higashino.

The Japanese pair split after the Paris Games, with Watanabe forming a new partnership with Taguchi.

However, the Japanese pair have struggled to find momentum as injuries to both players disrupted their progress.

The win marked the first second-round appearance of the year for Jimmy-Pei Jing after they exited in the opening round of the Malaysia Open last week.

Despite reaching seven finals in lower-tier tournaments last year, the Malaysians were unable to convert any of those runs into a title.

Jimmy-Pei Jing face a daunting task next as they are likely to meet China's world No. 1 pair Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping in the second round.

Joining them in the last 16 are world No. 9 Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai, who appear to have put recent health concerns behind them.

The husband-and-wife pair cruised to a 21-17, 21-17 victory in 29 minutes over Taiwan's world No. 38 Wu Guan Xun-Lee Chia Hsin.

Shevon suffered food poisoning during the Malaysia Open, which affected their campaign and limited them to a second-round exit on home soil.

Soon Huat-Shevon will next face Thailand's world No. 13 Ruttanapak Oupthong-Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat, who advanced after defeating Taiwan's world No. 28 Chen Cheng Kuan-Hsu Yin Hui 21-16, 21-17.

Meanwhile, world No. 21 Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin fell just short of a major upset against Thailand's world No. 3 Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran.

Pang Ron-Su Yin took the opening game and led 17-15 in the decider before eventually losing 17-21, 21-16, 22-20 in a 57-minute battle.