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Chong Wei cruises into second round of Japan Open

PETALING JAYA: World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei got off to a flying start in the first round of the Japan Open in Tokyo yesterday.

The 29-year-old needed just 25 minutes to brush aside Englandā€™s Rajiv Ouseph 21-13, 21-13 to set up a second round clash with Chinaā€™s Wang Zhengming.

Chong Wei, who is seeking to bounce back from losing to Lin Dan in the World Championships last month, skipped last weekā€™s China Masters. This is his first outing since the loss to the China ace.
Lin Dan also progressed into the second round in Tokyo but his 21-16, 11-21, 21-12 win over South Korean veteran Lee Hyun-il was far from impressive.

The biggest surprise in the singles event came from Taiwanese qualifier Chou Tien Chen, who stunned Indonesiaā€™s Taufik Hidayat 21-17, 12-21, 21-18 to set up a second round match against Japanā€™s Kenichi Tago.

This has also made Chong Weiā€™s road to the final easier, as he was supposed to meet Taufik in the quarter-finals.

Seventh seed Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam and eighth seed Du Pengyu of China also crashed out in the first round.

In menā€™s doubles, Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong thrashed Japanese qualifiers Hiroyuki Saeki-Ryota Taohata 21-10, 21-8 in just 20 minutes.

They will now face yet another Japanese pair, Yoshiteru Hirobe-Kenta Kazuno, for a place in the quarter-finals.

National No. 2 pair Lim Khim Wah-Goh V Shem also came through their first round test with a gritty 22-20, 21-19 win over South Koreaā€™s Kim Ki-jung-Shin Baek-cheol.



THE STAR

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