KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 — Malaysia’s professional pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi stormed into the final of the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) 2023 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after a hard-fought victory over Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi today.

Yew Sin-Ee Yi, ranked number eight in the world, beat the fourth seeded Takuro-Yugo 21-16, 26-24 in 50 minutes at the Sheikh Rashid bin Hamdan Indoor Hall of Al Nasr Club.

The Malaysians were dominant in the first game but it was neck and neck in the second game until the Japanese pulled away to an 18-14 lead.

However, the Malaysians fought back and levelled the score at 18-18, which saw Ee Yi bruising his left knee after falling while returning a shot.

Yew Sin-Ee Yi eventually took the game to deuce before winning to register only their second win in eight matches against the Japanese pair.

In the men’s doubles final tomorrow, Yew Sin-Ee Yi will play the winners of the other semi-final between India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Sheety and Lee Yang-Wang Chi Lin of Taiwan.

The other Malaysian pair in today’s semi-final matches, independent players Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai, found mixed doubles defending champions Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong of China too strong.

The world ranked number eight Soon Huat-Shevon lost 11-21, 13-21 to the 2020 Olympics silver medallists. The Malaysians have lost all their 10 matches against the Chinese pair so far.

Top seeds Si Wei-Ya Qiong will meet teammates Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin in the final. — Bernama