KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — Malaysia’s challenge in the Denmark Open badminton tournament ended tonight after the country’s last hope, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani crashed out in the men’s doubles semi-finals.

The world number 26 gave Danes Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen a huge scare before going down 11-21, 21-19, 18-21 after nearly an hour’s battle at the Odense Sports Park, according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website, www.bwf.tournamentsoftware.com. 

In today’s final, the world number 11 Danes will take on Japan’s world number 15 pair of Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi, who eliminated Germans Mark Lamsfuss-Marvin Seidel 20-22, 21-18, 21-16 in the other semi-final.

Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin had advanced to the last four after stunning world number seven Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia 21-18, 21-17 on Friday.

Meanwhile, men’s singles ace Lee Zii Jia crashed out in the quarter-finals after a narrow 21-19, 21-19 loss to Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen.

National number two mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing also went down fighting 21-19, 12-21, 14-21 in the quarter-finals to Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino of Japan. — Bernama