Japan Open: No Malaysian shuttlers in semi-finals

Malaysia’s participation at the ongoing BWF Japan Open in Osaka ended in the quarter-finals following defeats to three pairs on Friday.

Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing were the first pair to be ousted after they went down 16-21, 15-21 against China’s fourth seeds Wang Yi Lyu-Huang Dong Ping in 38 minutes.

Tan-Lai continued their recent struggle since winning the Korea Open in April, with several early exits after that.

The seventh seeds did well to reach the last eight, but were outclassed easily by their opponents.

Hoo Pang Ron-Toh Ee Wei confirmed the country’s exit in the mixed doubles after they lost 10-21, 13-21 against top seeds Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong.

Men’s doubles Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi made a better fist of their match against Choi Sol-gyu-Kim Won-ho, but the South Koreans recovered after going a game down to win 21-17, 17-21, 21-13.

With the scores even, Ong-Teo did well to keep their opponents within range in the deciding game.

But midway through the match, the independent pair lost their focus and committed a flurry of errors and allowed Choi-Kim to coast to victory.

The next top-tier events after the Japan Open are the Denmark Open (October 18-23) and the French Open (October 25-30).