Badminton: Taiwan's Wang and Lee score first-round win at Denmark Open

Taipei, Oct. 20 (CNA) Tokyo 2020 gold medalists Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and Lee Yang (李洋) are into the second round of badminton's Denmark Open after defeating Malaysia's Goh V Shem (吳蔚昇) and Low Juan Shen (劉雋程) 21-14, 21-18 Wednesday.

Wang and Lee, who took home Taiwan's first badminton gold at the Olympics this summer, needed only 32 minutes to overcome Goh, the Rio 2016 doubles runner-up, and his partner Low.

Beginning at 2-2, Wang and Lee raced into a 7-0 lead before closing out the first game 21-14.

In the second game, the Taiwanese No. 3 seeds again started comfortably and appeared on course for a routine win.

Goh and Low then rallied to nearly level the scores at 19-18, but the Malaysians failed to capitalize and fell 21-18, ceding the match.

Wang and Lee will now face Japan's Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi on Thursday for a place in Friday's quarterfinals.

In their previous matchup at the 2020 Badminton Asia Team Championship, Wang and Lee edged out the Japanese pair in a close three-game contest.

The 2021 Denmark Open takes place Oct. 19-24, with a total prize purse of US$850,000 up for grabs. Wang and Lee are the No. 3-seeded players in the men's doubles.