KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 – Malaysia’s run in the season-ending HSBC BWF World Tour Finals in Bangkok came to an end when Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean in the women’s doubles and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lei Jemie in the mixed doubles were beaten by their Korean opponents in their semifinals matches on Saturday.
Mei Kuan-Meng Yean who upset top seeds Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu in the final group match to advance to the knockout stage, gave a below-par performance in the semifinals against Lee So Hee-Shin Seung Chan and went out tamely with a 14-21, 15-21 defeat in 49 minutes.
”We did not play to expectations. Our opponents were far superior and aggressive and were mentally stronger in their game. This is something we have to work on. It was a good experience to reach this far in the tournament and we are richer in experience,” said Mei Kuan when reflecting on the defeat.
”Our confidence level was also below par compared to the match against the Indonesians (Greysia-Apriyani). We will learn from our mistakes and better prepared for the coming tournaments.”
In the last match of at Impact Arena, there was still hope of Malaysia featuring in a final and this was in the mixed doubles.
However, Soon Huat-Shevon simply crumbled against Seo Seun Jae-Chae YuJung in the second game and lost 19-21, 8-21 in 39 minutes.
Much was expected from the Malaysians in the second game after a close battle in the first but instead, it was the Koreans who raced to a 10-0 lead before the duck was broken and took the break at 11-1.
It was an uphill task for Soon Huat-Shevon from there on.
Meanwhile, it will be an all-Denmark men’s singles final between Viktor Axelsen and Anders Antonsen. Axelsen, who is in great form, having won both the Thailand Open (Yonex and Toyota) packed off Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-16, 21-9 while Antonsen downed Tien Chen’s compatriot Wang Tzu Wei 21-18, 14-21, 21-16.
Spain’s Olympic champion Carolina Marin is in line for her third title in three weeks in Thailand when plays current world No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the final.
Marin defeated Thai hope Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-13, 21-13 while Tzu Ying won 21-18, 21-12 against Korea’s 18-year-old An Se Young.
Defending champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesian will face Lee Yang-Wang Chi-Lin of Chinese Taipei in the men’s doubles final.
Lee Yang-Chi-Lin won both titles in Yonex Thailand Open and the Toyota Thailand Open in the last two weeks.
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