KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15 — National men’s doubles pair Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun are one step away from securing their second title this year after checking into the final of the 2023 Arctic Open badminton championships in Vantaa, Finland.

In Saturday’s semi-finals, Wei Chong-Kai Wun had to work hard to tame Denmark’s Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard 19-21, 21-19, 21-19 to reach their second Super 500 final after the 2023 Malaysia Masters in June.

World number 23 Wei Chong-Kai Wun will face another Danish pair, Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup, in the title showdown at the Vantaa Energia Arena today.

Astrup-Skaarup had earlier disposed of former three-time world champions from Indonesia Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan 21-19, 21-12 in the last four.

Wei Chong-Kai Wun clinched their first title this year with a hard-fought 20-22, 21-17, 21-14 victory over Taiwan’s Lu Ching Yao-Yang Po Han in the 2023 Taipei Open in June.

Meanwhile, the men’s singles final will be an all-Malaysian showdown between professional shuttler Lee Zii Jia and national ace Ng Tze Yong.

The eighth-seeded Zii Jia stunned third seed Anders Antonsen 21-17 in the first game and was leading 13-8 in the second when the Dane had to concede a walkover due to a leg injury.

The unseeded Tze Yong made it to the final with an impressive 21-12, 21-16 win over seventh seed Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan. — Bernama