Hock Lai, Priscilla Lun clear pre quarter-final round of Mixed Doubles event – Canada Open Update
The spirited duo of Hock Lai Lee-Priscilla Lun of USA powered their way to Mixed Doubles quarter-finals of Yonex Canada Open after beating Nathan Choi-Jo Novita on July 12, 2012.
This pre quarter-final tussle was staged in Richmond Oval badminton arena in Canada and both teams kept the audience mesmerised for 42 minutes before putting final figures of 21-14, 8-21 and 17-21.
Hock Lai and Priscilla Lun, who hold third spot in tournament ranking, displayed commendable fighting skills and managed to finish this race in favourable manner.
On the other hand, the losing team crashed out despite of gaining an early lead in match score position.
Nathan Choi and Jo Novita, who teamed up especially for this Grand Prix tournament, played positive badminton in opening segment and outclassed their rivals in all areas of the game.
They set the foundation by piling up decent total of 9-5 which helped them to end their first half as leading contenders.
Though, they lost grip for short period of time after the break but a couple of uninterrupted rallies took them to a dominating position of 16-13.
At this stage, they struck hard and blew their challengers away with a staggering knock of 21-14.
However, the US shuttlers did not remain at the lower end permanently and counterbalanced the situation in the very next set.
Hock and Priscilla established an unassailable lead with seven uninterrupted rallies and placed a mountainous figure of 7-0.
They relished full benefits of this upper hand and strengthened their grip with 11-3 before one-minute break.
Later part of the game saw them raising their total to 16-6 and when the opposing shuttlers tried to step forward they pushed them on the back-foot with 21-8 score on the board.
Both teams put all in their possession to oust their opponent in the decider but neither of them could gain a comfortable advantage until third quarter of the set.
They remained locked in a tense battle with 16 points each but the twosome of Hock-Priscilla bagged ending five points to seal their victory with 21-17.
Now they will be up against the Taipei campaigners Chung Jen Chen and Ya Lan Chang in the round of eight.
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