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Derek scores upset victory at badminton world champs

SINGAPORE – Shuttler Derek Wong has claimed a major scalp at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships in Guangzhou after posting a 24-22, 21-16 first round victory over Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro, who is seeded tenth for the men’s singles.

SINGAPORE – Shuttler Derek Wong has claimed a major scalp at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships in Guangzhou after posting a 24-22, 21-16 first round victory over Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro, who is seeded tenth for the men’s singles.

Both players had only met once at the Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold in 2011, with world No 10 Sony – a bronze medallist at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games – claiming victory, 21-18, 21-18, two years ago. But a first round match-up at the world championships saw a lower-ranked Wong (No 52) upsetting the form books on Monday evening to claim a hard-fought 2-0 win over the three-time Asian champion (2002, 2003, 2005).

Wong will face Malaysia’s Daren Liew in the second round on Tuesday in his bid to qualify for the round of 16.

Teammate Ashton Chen found his world championships campaign halted in the first round after a 2-1 (16-21, 21-11, 21-13) loss to Takuma Ueda of Japan. All-England quarterfinalist (2011) Gu Juan will come up against Lithuania’s Akvile Stapusaityte in the first round of the women’s singles on Tuesday, while 14th seeded mixed doubles pair Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Vanessa Neo will face South Koreans Baek Choel Shin and Hye Won Eom after earning a bye into the second round.

The much anticipated clash between reigning Olympic champion Lin Dan (China) and Malaysian world No 1 Lee Chong Wei remained on track on Monday with both shuttlers defeating their respective first round opponents, Thailand’s Sattawat Pongnairat (2-0) and Scott Evans of Ireland (2-0). Lin Dan will meet Eric Pang of the Netherlands in the next round, while Lee will face Indonesia’s Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka in his bid to capture his first world championship title.

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