Wei Feng and Joo Ven survive opening day blues for Malaysia

PETALING JAYA: The young – Soong Joo Ven – and the old – Chong Wei Feng – saved the day for Malaysian badminton in the opening day of the men’s singles event at the Korea Masters.

The 22-year-old Joo Ven defeated Milan Ludik of the Czech Republic 21-13, 21-13 in the first round at the Yeomju Gymnasium in Gwangju City yesterday. World No. 61 Joo Ven will face qualifier Ko Gyung-bo of South Korea next.

Joo Ven is hoping to finish the year strongly after a roller-coaster ride this season.

He did well to reach the semi-finals of the Thailand Open and the Polish International final but crashed out in the early rounds in most of the other international tournaments.

Former international and world No. 41 Wei Feng made life difficult for himself in the first round but still prevailed 15-21, 21-14, 21-13 over South Korea’s Kim Yong-hyun.

The 30-year-old faces a challenging task against China’s youngster Zhou Zeqi for a place in the second round.

Seasoned campaigner Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin failed to keep his momentum going when he lost 17-21, 21-10, 18-21 to Lin Chia-hsuan of Taiwan.

Hopes were high on Iskandar to shine in the Korea Masters after winning the Celcom Axiata Malaysian International Challenge in Johor Baru recently.

It was also the end of the road for former international Liew Daren and national player Tan Jia Wei.