It was a hurdle too high for Malaysian professionals Chooi Kah Ming-Low Juan Shen in the men’s doubles semi-finals in the USD600,000 Victor Korea Open in Seoul on Saturday.
The Malaysians lasted only 29 minutes at the SK Handball Stadium as they went down tamely 13-21, 12-21 to Japan’s eighth seeds and world No 13 Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe.
Playing in their first tournament as professionals the Malaysians, ranked 75, certainly signalled their arrival despite the defeat as they next head to Taipei for the USD500,000 Yonex Chinese Taipei Open which begins on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, it will be an all-Japan final in the men’s doubles with Endo-Watanabe taking on compatriots Tokuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi who ousted Korea’s Choi Solgyu-Seo Seung-jae 21-11, 21-14.
Japan is also assured of the women’s doubles title with newly crowned China Open champions and number two seeds Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi facing top seeds Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota in the final.
Matsutomo-Takahashi, the reigning Olympic champions breezed through a 21-10, 21-11 win over compatriots and fourth seeds Shiho Tanaka-Koharu Yonemoto. In another all-Japan semi-final, Fukushima-Hirota defeated Naoko Fukuma-Kurumi Yonao 21-15, 21-12.
Japan will also feature in the women’s singles final with Nozomi Okuhara facing surprise finalist China-born Zhang Beiwen of the United States for the title. Okuhara seeded third, upset top seed and compatriot Akane Yamaguchi 16-21, 21-17, 21-14 while sixth seed Beiwen surprised home favorite Sung Ji-hyun (seeded fourth) 21-18, 21-19.
The men’s final will be between Indonesian veteran Tommy Sugiarto and Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei. Sugiarto tamed Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie 21-13, 22-20 in an all-Indonesia semi-final while fourth seed Tien-chen stopped Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto 19-21, 21-18, 21-14. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAHI
