Down and out: national men’s doubles shuttler Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun in action against China’s Chen Boyang-Liu yi in the semi-finals of the Malaysian Open. — FaIHan GHanI/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Men’s doubles shuttlers Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun are not disheartened despite missing out on the Malaysian Open final.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun battled hard against China’s world No. 18 Chen Boyang-Liu Yi before going down 26-24, 16-21, 15-21 at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
The world No. 14 pair had defeated Boyang-Liu Yi in straight games in the Asian Championships last year but found it harder to overcome the pumped up duo this time and lost out in an exhausting 76-minute match.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun were disappointed to miss out on the final but vowed to build on their encouraging start to the year.
“We tried everything we had in the match today (yesterday).
“Our opponents managed to break our game while they remained solid,” lamented Kai Wun.
“We ended up entering their game and lost control. We need to add variety to our game and come up with more strategies.
Wei Chong said: “In the second and third games, they could read our game and they grew in confidence.
“We are not too satisfied with our performance here but we cannot afford to be down as we have tournaments coming up and we need to stay focused.
“We hope we can do better after this. This is still a good start for us but we need to work harder after this.”
It was still only Wei Chong-Kai Wun’s second semi-finals in a World Tour Super 1000 tournament.
The pair’s best achievement came in the Indonesian Open last year where they finished runners-up to China’s world No. 2 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun will next turn their attention to the Indian Open on Tuesday where they have a tough opening round match against home favourites and 2022 Asian Games champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty of India.
Meanwhile, Wei Chong-Kai Wun’s defeat meant that Datuk Lee Chong Wei remains the last Malaysian to reach the final in the home Open when he captured the men’s singles title in 2018.
In the men’s doubles, 2014 champions Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah were the last homesters to make it into the final.
