Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi had to settle for a silver medal at the Badminton Asia Championships after losing to India’s Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy 21-16, 17-21, 19-21 in Sunday's final.
It was heartbreak for the world number eight pair, who won the first game and held comfortable leads in the second and third game, but could not the finish the latter two games off.
Ong-Teo’s defeat also meant Malaysia lost out in two consecutive men’s doubles final of this tournament, after Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik also fell in last year’s showcase.
The Malaysians came into this final having ousted two top pairs in Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto and Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi, and started off strongly enough by showcasing their impeccable defence to thwart the offensive Indians in the opening exchanges.
It was point for point until Ong-Teo began to pull away from the 14 point mark onwards, and found the momentum to seize the 21-16 lead, with the winning point coming courtesy of Ong’s double dive to save the shuttle.
Ong-Teo were cruising in the second game with a 13-8 lead, but the Indians rallied back and began to force the mistakes from the Malaysians before forcing the rubber game with a 21-17 win.
The deciding game was nerve jangling as expected, but again the Malaysians looked on course for their first major title as they held a 15-11 lead.
But they allowed the Indians back into the game late on to seal the 21-19 win after 67-minutes.
In other finals, Japanese women’s doubles pair Yuki Fukuhisma-Sayaka Hirota claimed the first gold medal of the day when they easily overcame South Korea’s Baek Ha-na-Lee Soo-hee 21-7, 21-14.
The mixed doubles final saw China’s young pair Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin stun defending champions and national team-mates Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong 21-15, 21-16.
Tai Tzu-ying claimed the women’s singles crown with a 21-10, 21-14 win over An Se-young, while Antony Ginting was equally impressive in his 21-12, 21-8 victory over Loh Kean Yew for the men’s singles title.
