Early exit in doubles as Anna injures knee

PETALING JAYA: Misfortune struck women’s doubles pair Anna Cheong (pic)-Teoh Mei Xing as they were forced to retire from the first round of the Japan Masters.

Anna-Mei Xing, the world No. 67, conceded a walkover to Japan’s world No. 41 Sayaka Hobara-Yui Suizu, after Anna hurt her right knee at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium yesterday.

The match started on a promising note for the Malaysians as they secured the first game with a comfortable 21-14 win.

However, the tides turned in the second game where they suffered a narrow 19-21 defeat, leading to a decider.

Trailing 7-15 in the rubber game, Anna-Mei Xing made the difficult decision to retire.

The withdrawal is a bitter blow for the pair, considering that they had recently resumed their partnership in August.

Anna-Mei Xing acted wisely in opting to withdraw after recognising the risk of aggravating the injury where Anna had previously undergone surgery for an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture.

Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah became the sole representative in the women’s doubles following their teammates’ withdrawal.

Meanwhile, there were mixed fortunes in the men’s doubles.

Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik advanced to the second round after beating Taiwan’s world No. 10 and Olympic champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin 21-18, 21-14 while Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani lost to Indonesia’s newly-paired Rahmat Hidayat-Kevin Sanjaya 19-21, 14-21.

In mixed doubles, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei breezed past world No. 86 Wei Chun-wei-Nicole Gonzales Chan of Taiwan 21-11, 21-10 to set up a meeting with compatriots and world No. 14 Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie in the second round.

Soon Huat-Shevon overcame Scotland’s world No. 43 Adam Hall-Julie Macpherson.

Independent mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing had to dig deep to defeat Taiwan’s world No. 84 Chen Zhi-ray-Yang Ching-tun 20-22, 21-13, 21-15.