KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 – They fought tooth and nail but Malaysian professionals Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong were not able to stop sixth seeds, Lee Yang-Wang Chi-Lin of Chinese Taipei from walking away with the men’s doubles title in the Yonex Thailand Open which ended in Bangkok on Sunday.
It was certainly heartbreak for V Shem-Wee Kiong at Impact Arena after recovering from a game down to force a rubber game but could not muster the extra at vital stages during the 65-minute battle in their 16-21, 23-21, 19-21 defeat to Lee Yang-Chi-Lin.
The defeat was painful as the former world number one pair are now 3-0 down to their Taiwanese opponents, having lost their previous two encounters.
Still, V Shem-Wee Kiong can hold their heads as they were the only Malaysians to feature in the final in the Yonex Thailand Open which offered USD 1 million in prize money. The next Super 1000 tournament is the Toyota Thailand Open which begins at the same venue on Tuesday.
For their efforts, V Shem-Wee Kiong, the Rio Olympics silver medal winners, pocketed USD35,000 in prize money. The sixth-seeded champions took home USD 70,000.
”They were fast and speedy…we lost out in this. They were also consistent throughout. Still, we are happy with our overall performance in our first tournament after more than a year,” said Wee Kiong after the match.
Meanwhile, former world champion and reigning All-England champion Viktor Axelsen, the fourth seed, stopped Hong Kong China’s eight seed Angus Ng Ka Long 21-14, 21-14 for the men’s singles title which made him USD70,000 richer. Ka Long settled for USD35,000. For the record, the Dane has won all his nine encounters against Ka Long.
Chinese Taipei’s top seed and world No 1 Tai Tzu Ying was at the losing end against in form Carolina Marin of Spain in the women’s singles final. The Spaniard, ranked No 6, won 21-9, 21-16.
Thailand won the mixed doubles title through top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukro-Sapsiree Taerattanachai who defeated Indonesia’s All-England champions Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti 21-3, 20-22, 21-8 in a 56-minute match.
The women’s doubles saw Indonesia’s Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu with the fifth seeds outplayed Thailand’s seventh seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai 21-15, 21-12 for the title and USD74,000 in prize money.
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