Badminton News: British men’s doubles duo Ben Lane and Sean Vendy received an exciting draw for the first round of the PERODUA Malaysia Masters 2023 in Kuala Lumpur this week.
With the Sudirman Cup marking the start of the Olympic qualifying period, players across all disciplines will be looking to earn points early on.
Ben Lane and Sean Vendy were supposed to start against fifth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in this Super 500 event, but the Indian pair’s withdrawal meant Lee Fang-chih and Lee Fang-jen of Taipei, silver medalists at the Spain Masters in April, now ready for the first meeting between these two duos.
Meanwhile, Chloe Birch and Lauren Smith will play in women’s doubles at the Malaysia Masters 2023.
Birch and Smith were in encouraging form towards the end of the European swing, reaching back-to-back quarter-finals in Madrid and Orleans, and will look to build on that in the months to come.
With the British pair having been drawn against Rena Miyaura and Ayako Sakuramoto in the first round, the Japanese pair sit 23rd in the BWF World Rankings, just three places above Birch and Smith.
This will be the first meeting between the two pairs, and the winning pair will likely face sixth seeds Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in the second round.
Smith will also appear in mixed doubles alongside Marcus Ellis, with the pair looking to build on some of their recent encouraging performances when they clash in Kuala Lumpur.
Ellis and Smith’s performance in last week’s heavy loss to world number 6s Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue in the Sudirman Cup was one of their best of late, and they’ll be looking to take the positives in their opening match against Mathias Thyrri and Amalie. Magellan.
In 31st place, the Danish duo are 42 places ahead of Ellis and Smith, although the pair have never met before and the British star certainly has the advantage in terms of experience.
The second half could feature an England team battle, with Scottish duo Adam Hall and Julie MacPherson potentially on the line, when it won’t be long before the England and Denmark pair lock down again.
Article tags: Ben Lane, Sean Vendy, Malaysia Masters 2023
