Malaysia’s challenge at the Korea Masters ended in the semi-finals after Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai and Soong Joo Ven both lost their matches on Saturday.
Goh-Lai were thoroughly outclassed by Chinese pair Ou Xuan Yi-Huang Ya Qiong 11-21, 15-21, while Soong battled for close to 90 minutes before losing 17-21, 23-21, 11-21 to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka.
In the day’s opening match, Goh-Lai made a horrendous start as they were all over the place tactically to allow their opponents cruise to an 11-2 lead.
From then on, it was easy pickings for Ou-Huang who led 20-7 before sealing the first game 21-11.
Huang had never played Goh-Lai with Ou, but the two-time world champion had plenty of success with former partner Zheng Siwei previously defeating the Malaysians six times without reply.
Familiarity continued to breed success in this encounter as even Goh-Lai led 7-0 in the second game, the pair began to allow errors creep into their game and it was also becoming mind games between Huang and Lai at the front court.
Lai was losing that battle badly with many rushed shots, allowing the Chinese to level at 10-10 before seizing advantage at the interval.
It was all they needed to push through for the straight game victory in 33 minutes.
Soong, who took to court in a later match, fared much better.
He was playing catch-up to Naraoka in the first game and despite putting constant pressure, faltered at the end to lose 17-21.
The world number 68 levelled after staging a comeback in the second game, despite going into the interval with a 6-11 deficit.
Both shuttlers were locked at 20-20, but Soong remained calm to secure a 23-21 win.
However, Soong failed to keep that momentum going in the decider and Naraoka did not let up to book his first final appearance in three years.
