But Kennie Asuncion failed to duplicate her brother’s fine start in the event serving as part of the Athens Olympics qualifier as she bowed to Seo Yoon-hee of Korea, 11-2, 11-2, in the women’s singles event.
The brother-sister tandem, however, came back to defeat the Liu Kwok Wa-Koon Wai Chee tandem from Hong Kong, 15-7, 15-8, to advance in the mixed doubles event.
The Asuncions are seeking qualifying points for this year’s Olympics and have competed in tough events in South Korea and Japan.
Meanwhile, Malaysian singles players Roslin Hashim and Lee Chong Wei made convincing starts in the tournament as they thumped their respective rivals in lopsided fashion.
Roslin hardly broke a sweat against Myanmar’s Than Lwin Aung and took less than 20 minutes to secure a 15-1, 15-0 win while Chong Wei downed Pakistani Ahsan Qamar, 15-0, 15-1.