Seoul: Malaysia’s challenge in the Korea Open Super Series Badminton Championship has ended on Saturday after both men’s doubles and mixed doubles pairs were sent packing by their respective opponents.
Rio Olympic men’s doubles silver medalists, Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong had to dig deep when they were trailed 4-11 in the first set against Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen of China, before clawing their way back into the match by winning the first set 21-18.
The fast and furious young pair of Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen did not let victory slipped through their fingers again in the second set by winning the game 21-15 against the Malaysian pair.
The decider was completely one-sided as Li/Liu beat Goh/Tan 21-13 to advance to their second straight Superseries finals in two weeks. Li/Liu won the men’s doubles title at last week’s Japan Open Superseries.
Li/Liu will play No. 1 seeds Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong in the final. Lee/Yoo defeated Huang Kaixiang/Wang Yilyu of China 21-11, 21-16 in the other men’s doubles semifinals.
In mixed doubles, another Rio Olympics silver medalists from Malaysia, Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying also fizzled out after losing to No. 1 seeds Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na of Korea 21-15, 14-21, 15-21 in the semifinals.
Ko/Kim are set to play Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen of China on Sunday. The 2 pairs battled in last week’s Japan Open final, when Zheng/Chen came out as the winners.
The host country also guaranteed Korean presence in 3 other events when Son Wan-ho will play unseeded Qiao Bin of China in the men’s singles final; while Sung Ji-hyun who cruised past compatriot Kim Hyo-min in the semis will take on Japanese Akane Yamaguchi in the women’s singles final.
Lastly, South Korea’s top women’s doubles pair Jung Kyung-eun and Shin Seung-chan also made the final and will clash with China’s Luo Ying/Luo Yu sisters for the women’s doubles crown.
