PETALING JAYA: Women's doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah's bid to reach their first final of the year in the Indian Open was foiled by South Korea's Kim Hye-jeong-Kong Hee-yong.
World No. 7 Pearly-Thinaah went down 18-21, 18-21 to Hye-jeong-Hee-yong in 55 minutes in the last four in New Delhi on Saturday (Jan 18).
The Malaysians started slowly and found themselves trailing 1-6 and 6-11 in the first game but fought hard to narrow the gap.
Hye-jeong-Hee-yong though held on to win the game and grew in confidence in the second game.
Pearly-Thinaah tried to make a comeback but the pumped up Koreans, who captured the Korean Masters title last November, proved the better pair on the day and booked their spot in the final.
Despite the defeat, it was still an encouraging outing for Pearly-Thinaah after they pulled off an impressive victory over Malaysian Open champions Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto in the quarter-final.
It was also a much better showing from the Malaysians after they suffered a first round exit in the home tourney last week.
