NATIONAL mixed doubles pair, Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei, battled their way into the quarter-finals of the India Open on Thursday (January 16), after overcoming the recent Malaysia Open champions, Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran.
The third-seeded Malaysian duo faced a formidable challenge from the Thai pair but secured a hard-fought 19-21, 21-12, 22-20 victory in a thrilling 65-minute encounter.
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Tang Jie and Ee Wei showed resilience throughout the match, particularly in the third game, where they held a three-match point advantage.
Reflecting on the match, Tang Jie shared in a post match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF): “We stick to our strategy, although we made a couple of mistakes at 20-17.
“We discussed it among each other and with our coach, but I think the most important thing is that we believe in each other.”
“Everyone feels the pressure when competing, but the important thing is how to release it on court.
“For us, we try to make it hard for them to get points from us, and that’s the mindset we kept today,” he said.
In Friday’s quarter-finals, Tang Jie and Ee Wei will face another Thai pair, Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat, who caused a major upset by defeating the sixth-seeded Chinese pair, Cheng Xing and Zhang Chi, in the second round.
