LookAtVietnam – Most tournament seeds survived the first round of the Japan Open on September 23, including Viet Nam’s Nguyen Tien Minh,

Qualifier: Viet Nam’s Nguyen Tien Minh qualified for the Japan Open’s second round.

Minh, who grabbed two important titles at the Badminton World Federation last month, will next face with Japan’s Sho Sasaki, who entered the second round after defeating fellow countryman Kazushi Yamada 21-12, 21-15 in the first round.

Minh and Sasaki have met twice previously, each winning one match.

Meanwhile, world No 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia brushed aside Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana, showing no ill-effects from a knee injury.

The top seed, who said an old injury to his left knee had recently flared, needed just 34 minutes to score a 21- 9, 21-15 win over the in-form China Masters finalist.

Other top players including Athens Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, his compatriot and defending champion Soni Dwi Kuncoro, Peter Gade of Denmark, and 2008 Asian champion Park Sung-hwan of South Korea also won.

Fourth seed Hidayat beat Chan Yan-kit of Hong Kong, fifth seed Kuncoro defeated Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand, and third seed Gade outgunned Rajiv Ouseph of England, all in straight games.

Park needed 52 minutes to beat Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia 16-21, 21-13, 21-12, while 2009 Asian champion Bao Chunlai of China downed Hong Ji-hoon of South Korea 23-21, 21-16.

On the women’s side, world No 1 Zhou Mi of Hong Kong failed to clear the first hurdle when she fell to Adriyanti Firdasari yesterday.

The Masters Final champion, who played for China previously, suffered a shock 21-17, 18-21, 21-18 defeat in the first round to the Indonesian, ranked 20th in the world.

“It was difficult in the first game to get used to the wind (caused by the air conditioner) and its direction. I managed to take the second game, but physically I’m tired in the third game,” said Zhou.

“I’m not physically in good form recently. I’ve been playing recently to find out in what aspect I must improve.”

For Firdasari, it was her first win over Zhou in three meetings.

“I’m very, very happy. I’ve never expected to beat her, so I just tried to keep playing,” said the 2005 SEA Games gold medallist. “I lost to her twice before, so I really wanted to beat her this time, “she added.

VietNamNet/AFP/VNS