Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing are Malaysia’s sole representatives in the Korea Open semi-finals after the world number 10 pair defeated Chinese pair Ou Xuan Yi-Huang Ya Qiong 21-18, 21-17 on Friday.
The second seeded Tan-Lai were comfortable throughout their 39-minutes victory over their opponents, who were still adjusting together as a unit — Huang formed a world number two pairing with Zheng Si Wei, but the Chinese Badminton Association recently reshuffled their national team line-up.
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Tan-Lai capitalised on the lack of chemistry to trouble their opponents, and as a result collected fairly easy points from short rallies.
They are expected to have a much more challenging contest against Indonesians Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas Mentari in the mixed doubles semis.
The rest of the national contingent all faltered, beginning with Ong Yew Sin-Goh Liu Ying.
The new pairing gave Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun a close battle before going down 14-21, 23-21, 16-21.
Men's singles player Ng Tze Yong, who had done well in his first two matches, then had a lackluster performance to lose to Weng Hong Yang 11-21, 12-21.
Goh Jin Wei joined them at the exit door after she fell 15-21, 18-21 to local shuttler Kim Gae-un.
It was nonetheless a positive outing for the 22-year-old, who was playing in her first tournament after a 10-month layoff from the sport.
Ong teamed up with Teo Ee Yi in the final match for their men’s doubles encounter against Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto and, despite their best efforts, went down 19-21, 20-22.
Most of these shuttlers would remain in South Korea for the Korea Masters taking place next week.
Kian Meng and Pei Jing, HWAITING! #KoreaOpen2022
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