Malaysian shuttlers entered two finals in the USD75,000 IDBI Federal Life Insurance Hyderabad Open but ended up disappointed in the men’s singles and women’s doubles on Sunday.
Thomas Cup, Soong Joo Ven gave a good account of himself before going down to home favourite and top seed Sameer Verma 15-21, 18-21 in the men’s singles final in a 37-minute encounter.
In the women’s doubles final, Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen were also at the losing end in a nail-biting 63-minute battle before falling to Hong Kong China’s fifth seeds Ng Tsz Yau-Yuen Sin Ying 21-18, 16-21, 21-14.
Hosts India clinched a double through men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty. The top seeds carved out a straight game 21-16,21-14 win over third seed Akbar Bintang Cahyono-Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani of Indonesia in only 26 minutes.
Akbar, however, later teamed up with Winny Oktavia Kandow as sixth seeds for an upset win in the mixed doubles final over Indian top seeds and hot-favourites Pranav Jerry Chopra-N. Sikki Reddy.
The Indonesians came back from a game down to clinch a 15-21, 21-19, 25-23 win in 55-minutes to break the hearts of the home fans.
The women’s singles title went South Korea’s way with Kim Ga-eun snatching a 21-9, 18-21, 21-17 win over Hong Kong’s fourth seed Deng Joy Xuai in 53 minutes. RIZAL ABDULLAH
