National leading mixed doubles pair, Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying has won the 2015 Russian Open Gold GP Badminton Championship on Sunday, making it their second title of this season.
The pair emerged champions after overcoming a stiff encounter with Japan’s Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino, before eventually winning 21-13, 23-21 in the final, held at the Olympics Sports Hall in Vladivostok, Russia.
Peng Soon and Liu Ying had gone into this championship as an unseeded pair, and surprised everyone with their determination and hardwork en route to the win.
This is their second title this year, as they also won the Polish Open in March.
Conversely, luck wasn’t on Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong’s side in the men’s doubles as the pair succumbed to a defeat to top seeds Vladmir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov of Russia.
The no. 1 Malaysian pair put up an admirable performance before losing 20-22, 19-21, although their efforts have to be credited.
Meanwhile the men’s singles category saw favourite Zulfadli Zulkiffli knocked out in the semi-final on Saturday, shockingly going down 12-21, 20-22 to Raul Must of Estonia.
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) did not send any representatives in the women’s singles and doubles for the championship, which offers a total prize money of US$50,000 (approx RM200,000).
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