KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 — Malaysian women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah began brightly before fading away en route to succumbing 21-14, 22-24, 9-21 to Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti in the final of the Hong Kong Open badminton championships today.

In the dramatic 73-minute title showdown at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon, sixth-seeded Pearly-Thinaah began in style by taking a 10-2 lead before clinching the first game 21-14.

However, the world number eight Indonesians bounced back to take the second game 24-22 and force a rubber game.

In the decider, the Malaysians found themselves trailing 6-18 when Pearly suffered a right leg injury after a fall and the Malaysians could not do anything to stop the 2022 Malaysian Open champions from romping home.

The victory allowed Apriyani-Siti Fadia to extend their run of wins over the Malaysians, who also lost to the Indonesians in the 2022 Indonesia Masters and 2022 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals.

Pearly-Thinaah last won a title when they stunned two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara of Japan 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 in the final of the 2022 French Open last October. — Bernama