Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and Goh Sze Fei in action during the Denmark Open - BADMINTON PHOTO
PETALING JAYA: Doubles shuttlers Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani can walk tall despite losing in the Denmark Open semi-finals.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin made a strong comeback after an opening game setback to fight all the way before going down fighting 11-21, 21-19, 18-21 to Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in Odense.
It was their fourth defeat to the Danes.
Izzuddin wished they were more consistent in the decider.
"We got off to a slow start but fortunately, made a comeback in the second but our opponents kept the pressure on and were consistent until the end," said Izzuddin.
"It did not help because we kept making mistakes in the decider and that gave them the advantage too.
"Overall, this is our best result in our careers (Denmark Open semis). We hope to perform even better at next week's France Open and be more consistent."
Meanwhile, all eyes will be on the men's singles final between Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Kento Momota of Japan.
Both oozed class in their straight-game victories in the semi-finals. Axelsen knocked out Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong 21-9, 21-11 while Momota outclassed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia 21-7, 21-12.
Axelsen has beaten Momota only once in their previous 15 meetings at the 2014 German Open. In their last meeting, Momota beat the Dane to win the 2020 Malaysia Masters title before he was involved in a car crash on his way to the airport in Kuala Lumpur.
QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS
Men's singles: Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Lee Cheuk Yiu (Hkg) 21-9, 21-11; Kento Momota (Jpn) bt Tommy Sugiarto (Ina) 21-7, 21-12.
Men's doubles: Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Mark Lamsfuss-Marvin Seidel (Ger) 20-22 21-18 21-16; Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) bt Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (Mas) 21-11 19-21 21-18.
Women's singles: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt He Bingjiao (Chn) 23-21 22-20; An Se-young (Kor) bt Kirsty Gilmour (Sco) 21-13 12-21 21-16.
Women's doubles: Huang Dongping-Zheng Yu (Chn) bt Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha) 21-10 21-15; Lee So-hee-Shin Seung-chan (Kor) bt Kim So-yeong-Kong Hee-yong (Kor) 16-21, 21-18, 21-16.
Mixed doubles: Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino(Jpn) bt Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping (Chn) 16-21 21-17 21-17; Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha) bt Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva (Ina) 16-21 21-17 22-20.
