KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 — Malaysia’s challenge in the 2020 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals has ended after the two remaining pairs — Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean (women’s doubles) and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai (mixed doubles) — lost their semi-finals matches to South Korean opponents at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand today.
Mei Kuan-Meng Yean, who stunned world No 8 Greysia Polli-Apriyani Rahayu of Indonesia in their final Group A match yesterday, had no answer to world No 4 Lee So-hee-Shin Seung-chan, going down 14-21, 15-21 in 49 minutes.
“We didn’t play so well, we made too many unforced errors. They were more powerful and kept the pressure on us. We weren’t tight enough in defence.
“When we attacked, they countered were very fast, so it was quite hard to keep them under pressure,” Mei Kuan was quoted as saying in the BWF website www.bwfbadminton.com.
The South Korean pair, who won the Toyota Thailand Open title recently, will face compatriots Kim So-yeong-Kong Hee-yong in the final tomorrow.
World No 6 So-yeong-Hee-yong moved into the second straight finals after warding off a strong challenge from Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai of Thailand to prevail 21-11, 12-21, 21-16 in the other semi-final.
Meanwhile, Soon Huat-Shevon crashed out of the US$1.5 million (RM6.06 million) tournament after losing 19-21, 8-21 to Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yujung.
Semi-finals results:
(Note: Malaysian unless stated)
Men’s singles:
Anders Antonsen (DEN) bt Wang Tzu Wei (TPE) 21-18, 14-21, 21-16
Viktor Axelsen (DEN) bt Chou Tien Chen (TPE) 21-16, 21-9
Men’s doubles:
Lee Yang-Wang Chi-Lin (TPE) bt Ben Lane-Sean Vendy (ENG) 22-20, 21-17
Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan (INA) bt Choi Solgyu-Seo Seung-jae (KOR) 23-21, 21-13
Women’s singles:
Tai Tzu Ying (TPE) bt An Se Young (KOR) 21-18, 21-12
Carolina Marin (ESP) bt Pornpawee Chochuwong (THA) 21-13, 21-13
Women’s doubles:
Lee So-hee-Shin Seung-chan (KOR) bt Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean 21-14, 21-15
Kim So-yeong-Kong Hee-yong (KOR) bt Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai (THA) 21-11, 12-21, 21-16
Mixed doubles:
Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA) bt Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (FRA) 21-15, 21-17
Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yujung (KOR) bt Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai 21-19, 21-8. — Bernama
