Pang Ron-Yee See eye maiden title after hard-won ticket to final

Exit: Malaysia’s Iskandar Zulkarnain went down to India’s Sourabh Verma in the men’s singles semi-finals of the Hyderabad Open yesterday.

PETALING JAYA: National mixed doubles pair Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See put themselves one win away from a maiden title by reaching the final of the Hyderabad Open in India.

The world No. 57 came from behind to overcome Thailand’s Ratchapol Makkasasithorn-Benyapa Aimsaard 17-21, 21-15, 21-15 in the semi-final clash that lasted 43 minutes at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium yesterday.

This will be Pang Ron-Yee See’s second final having previously finished runners-up at the Bangladesh Open in December last year.

Pang Ron-Yee See will face Indonesia’s Adnan Maulana-Mychelle Crhystine Bandaso in today’s title clash.

Pang Ron-Yee See will be out to avenge their quarter-final loss to Adnan-Mychelle in the Osaka International Challenge in April.

Pang Ron will also be seeking to go one better than what his elder sister Vivian Hoo achieved in the same tournament last year.

Vivian and her partner Yap Cheng Wen made it to the women’s doubles final but went down to Hong Kong’s Ng Tsz Yau-Yuen Sin Ying.In the men’s singles contest, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin’s hopes of winning back-to-back titles have been shattered.

The 28-year-old former international, who won the Russian International Challenge last month, was beaten 23-21, 21-16 by seventh seed Sourabh Verma of India.

Men’s singles: Sourabh Verma (Ind) bt Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin (Mas) 23-21, 21-16; Loh Kean Yew (Sin) bt Heo Kwang-hee (Kor) 16-21, 21-10, 25-23.

Men’s doubles: Muhammad Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana (Ina) bt Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan (Tpe) 22-20, 21-18; Na Sung-seung-Wang Chan (Kor) bt Kang Min-hyuk-Kim Jae-hwan (Kor) 21-14, 21-15.

Women’s singles: An Se-young (Kor) bt Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (Tha) 21-14, 21-13; Yeo Jia Min (Sin) bt Phittayaporn Chaiwan (Tha) 21-11, 15-21, 21-18.

Women’s doubles: Ashwini Ponnapa-N. Sikki Reddy (Ind) bt Fan Ka Yan-Wu Yi Ting (Hkg) 21-12, 21-12; Baek Ha-na-Jung Kyung-eun (Kor) bt Akane Araki-Riko Imai (Jpn) 21-10, 21-21-9.

Mixed doubles: Adnan Maulana-Mychelle Crhystine Bandaso (Ina) bt Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Boje (Den) 19-21, 21-16, 21-17; Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See (Mas) bt Ratchapol Makkasasithorn-Benyapa Aimsaard (Tha) 15-21, 21-17, 21-17.