Angus Ng Ka-long won for the first time this year to advance to the second round of badminton’s All England Open, but fellow Hong Kong team member Lee Cheuk-yiu bowed out. Ng took just 36 minutes to beat Thomas Rouxel of France 21-11, 21-19, but Lee struggled to match the intensity of his South Korean opponent, crashing out in three games to Heo Kwang-hee 21-13, 9-21, 21-16. The coronavirus pandemic, has limited Ng, the world No 10, to just two events ahead of the Super 1000 tournament in Birmingham, which offers a total winning purse of US$1 million. He played the last match for Hong Kong at the Asia Team Championships in Malaysia last month, losing to Jeon Hyeok-Jin of South Korea in straight games. Last week he competed at the German Open, where he was eliminated in the first round by HS Prannoy of India, also in straight games. Struggling Hong Kong pair Ng and Lee face tough starts at All England Open “We hope he can pick up his confidence after the victory,” Tim He Yiming, the Hong Kong head coach, said. “The French player [Rouxel] was not too difficult to handle and Ng might have taken it a bit easy in the second game. “He has been training overseas since last month and must keep focused as he did when he trained at home.” After a comfortable first game, Ng was leading 18-13 in the second but a lapse of concentration almost prove costly, as Rouxel fought back to 19-17 before Ng sealed victory 21-19. Ng will now take on Lu Guangzu of China, a player who he has not played before on the tour, in the next round. “Chinese shuttlers always have great endurance and the match against Ng will probably see plenty of rallies,” He said. “Ng must sustain with a strong will power and hopefully he can achieve it without playing under pressure.” Hong Kong’s Angus Ng tumbles out of World Championships Lee was leading 16-15 in the third game against Korean Heo, who then scored six points in a row to wrap up the victory. “Lee lacked the stamina in the final stages and must improve in order to get better results,” his coach said. The Hong Kong No 2 will now need to prepare for the Swiss Open in Basel next week. While most of the top players went through to the second round, China’s Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan, the reigning women’s doubles world champions and top seeds in the tournament, fell rather tamely to unfancied Korean pair Jeong Ng-eun and Kim Hue-jeong for a surprising 21-15, 21-16 defeat. “Both of us were struggling, especially after the German Open, and we haven’t recovered. My injury feels worse,” Jia said.