Round 2 - MD : Thanks to Russia, Europe resists to a powerful Asia

Big surprise : the world champions out !

Last match of the day opposed Liao/Su from Taipei to the Chinese pair Li/Liu (world champion). What a surprise with the victory of Liao/Su in only two sets with a score of 21-19 21-17 ! They will have to face an other chinese pair tomorrow : Han/Zhou.

The power of Russia

The last European pair among the men’s doubles is from Russia and they’re called Ivanov/Sozonov (ranked 21st in the world). They were competing today against Lu/Yang from Taipei. They lost the first set 19-21 as Sozonov said : « We were a little bit disapointed because we made some mistakes that we shouldn’t have and we felt locked at the end of the first game. » In the second set, they played their best game and won 21-16. Finally, they easily won the last set 21-10 and are going to play the title-holders Lee/Lee from Taipei in the next round. He concluded saying : « We hope to get through the next round and we’re going to give our best. »

The spectacular show of Sukamuljo

The world number one and favorite for the title were part of the first men’s doubles match to start the day. Gideon/Sukamuljo from Indonesia were facing Endo/Watanabe from Japan. The Indonesian pair easily won the first set 21-14. In the second set, the Japanese were not making things easy and Gideon/Sukamuljo had to fight to beat them 22-20. As always, trick shots lovers must have enjoyed watching this match thanks to Sukamuljo who made impressive defensive shots between the legs and behind the back.