Northern Marianas International Day 3 - Wrap Up

Day 3 of the Northern Marianas International showcased some of the best badminton the tournament has on offer. After 39 matches and several hours, we finally found our quarter finalists.

Here’s your daily recap:

Mixed Doubles

New Zealand’s Raphael Deloy and Yanxi Liu and their opponents from across the Tasman, Phillip Halim and Faye Huo (AUS) took to Court 1 to battle for a spot in the quarter finals. The Kiwis quickly developed a rhythm in the game, and cruised to a 21-14, 21-13 wiin.

They will be joined by another Kiwi duo, Eric Lu and Josephine Zhao, who outplayed Guam’s Allan Zeng and Kristine Deng 21-6, 21-8.

Number one seeds, Akira Koga and Yuho Imai (JPN) will also be in the quarterfinals, after they commanded the court in their match against Northern Marianas’ Andreau Galvez and Jenine Savellano.

The remaining quarter finalists are:

Noh Jin Seong & Jang Eun Seo (KOR)
Tonkid Saeheng & Tonrug Saeheng (THA)
Jayden Lim & Victoria Tjonadi (AUS)
Kim Jae Hyeon & Kim Min Ji (KOR)
Lee Sang Won & Ye Na Lee (KOR)

Men’s Singles

Number one seed, Kim Byung Jae (KOR), progressed with little disruption, winning his match against Chinese Taipei’s Hsueh Chien Chuang 21-13, 21-10.

After taking the lead early in the first game, Australia’s Shrey Dhand eventually fell to Korea’s Choi Jihoon 17-21, 12-21.

Korea went from strength to strength, with three more players advancing to the semi finals; Yoo Tae Bin, who beat Australia’s Jayden Lim (21-3, 21-10); Park Sang Yong, who upset number four seed, Ricky Tang (AUS); with a 21-12, 21-11 win; and Cho Geonyeop, following his 21-10, 21-12 win over Tung Jui Hsu (TPE).

The remaining quarter finalists are:

Hing Long Wong (CAN) — 21-17, 21-13 win over Yi Mai (TPE)
Yudai Nagafuchi (JPN) — 24-22, 18-21, 21-17 win over Chien Hsun Cho (TPE)
Huan Kai Hern (MAS) — 21-8, 21-13 win over Chien Lin (TPE)

Women’s Singles

Australia’s Faye Huo, showcased the tenacity that catapulted her to VICTOR Oceania Junior Championship glory in her match against Singapore’s Sng Ying Shuen this morning. After edging out Sng for the first game, Huo slightly faltered early in the second. Sng capitalised on this to secure the second game comfortably. After the interval, the Australian clearly refocused, as she stormed to a third game victory and secured her spot in the quarter finals (21-17, 8-21, 21-12).

Second seed, Kim Min Sun of Korea, continued her form from day one to progress to the next round. She beat Japan’s Mikoto Aiso 21-13, 21-12.

After her stunning upset on day one, Thailand’s Tonrug Saeheng forced a three game contest against Korea’s Kim Seong Min. She went down in the first game, but Saeheng gritted through, and with some perfectly placed shots, she found herself back in contention. 63 minutes later, the Thailand player walked away with a 7-21, 21-19, 22-20 win over her opponent.

The other quarterfinalists are:

Tsukasa Tsujita (JPN) — 21-19, 21-10 win over Shu-Yu Wen (TPE)
Park Ga Eun (KOR) — 21-16, 21-17 win over Nanaho Kondo (JPN)
Yi An Yan (TPE) — 21-14, 21-10 win over Victoria Tjonadi (AUS)
Lee Soyul (KOR) — 21-5 21-3 win over Airi Oku (USA)
Lim Tin En Tiffany — 21-19, 21-14 win over Lina Tsukagoshi (NMP)

Men’s Doubles

The top two seeds both safely progressed to the next round.

Kim Jae Hyeon and Lee Sang Won (KOR) faced the Australians’ Shrey Dhand and Jayden Lim. Although the pair from Down Under fought hard, they were no match for the number one seeds, who walked away with a 21-4, 21-12 win.

Next up, Japan’s Naoya Kawashima and Akira Koga played the hometown duo of Daniell Mar Jaylo Pablo and Kyle Salcedo (NMP). While the Northern Marianas double put a few points on the board, they could not slow the Japanese players as they powered to a 21-1, 21-5 victory.

Other quarter finalists include:

Chien Hsun Cho & Hsueh Chien Chuang (TPE)
Noh Jun Seong & Park Seungmin (KOR)
Raphael Deloy & Lezhi Zhu (NZL)
Yudai Nagafuchi & Kota Ogawa (JPN)
Huang Kai Yi & Sheng-Ming Lin (TPE)
Fu Syuan Liu & Wu Ming Yang (TPE)

Women’s Doubles

Fiji’s Leilah Chung and Jansu Du’s fantastic tournament run continued with their victory over Ninon Malaval and Anita Mercier of Tahiti 21-14, 21-15.

Yanxi Liu and Josephine Zhao (NZL) both returned to the court for their women’s doubles performance. They swept the match to win 21-10, 21-5 over Cook Islands Arihoia Sprague-Marsters and Lana Toa to secure a second quarter finals appearance.

VICTOR Oceania Junior Champions, Mimi Ngo and Maureen Wijaya (AUS), went from strength to strength, claiming their spot in the next round with a 21-10, 21-13 win over Northern Marianas’ Shaina Malonzo and Lina Tsukagoshi.