Arif-Roy King go down fighting in HK Open quarter-finals
Men’s doubles shuttlers Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King failed to make the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open after being defeated by the more experienced Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty.
In a fast-paced match that lasted 64 minutes, the younger 20th-ranked Malaysians took the world No 9 pair to three games, before losing 14-21, 22-20,16-21 at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon.
Arif-Roy King made a strong comeback to take the second game and force a decider, but the powerful smashes of the Indian pair swung the rubber game in their favour.
Arif-Roy King were hoping to make their first semi-final appearance in a BWF Super 500 event.
The Macau Open last month, in which they won the title, was a Super 300 tournament.
However, they still won a cash prize of US$3,625 (RM15,245) as quarter-finalists in the Hong Kong Open.
