PETALING JAYA: Hoon Thien How and Tan Wee Kiong failed to complete a fairy-tale ending at the China Open in Shanghai on Sunday.
The world No. 11’s hopes of landing their first Super Series title ended in despair as they went down 13-21, 12-21 to South Korea’s Lee Yong-dae-Yoo Yeon-seong in just 33 minutes in the men’s doubles final.
It was a poor performance from the Malaysian No. 2 pair considering they were high in confidence after a good run to the final. They defeated several top pairs, including Denmark’s world No. 3 Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen.
On top of that, Thien How-Wee Kiong were victorious over Yong-dae-Yeon-seong in the French Open quarter-finals last month and were expected to win again.
But a bad start yesterday put paid to Thien How-Wee Kiong’s hopes of winning their first-ever title as they never really recovered against the Denmark Open champions.
“The Koreans played very fast today and we were just unable to keep up with the pace,” said Thien How.
“We prepared well for the final but I guess the Koreans prepared themselves even better.
“It was different from the match in France because they changed tactics this time and caught us off guard,” he added.
In the men’s singles, China’s Chen Long proved to be a master in the making after taming compatriot Wang Zhengming in three tough games in the final.
The world No. 2 bounced back to win 19-21, 21-8, 21-14 for his fourth title of the year. Chen Long had earlier won the German Open, All-England and Denmark Open.
China also bagged two other titles – through Li Xuerui in the women’s singles and Li Xuerui-Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang in the women’s doubles.
Indonesia picked up the mixed doubles crown when Tontowi Ahmad-Lilyana Natsir edged Joachim Fischer-Christinna Pedersen of Denmark 21-10, 5-21, 21-17.
