Malaysians edged out at Hylo Open

Malaysia’s campaign at the Hylo Open in Germany ended this morning when men’s doubles pair Aaron Tai-Yap Roy King and mixed doubles duo Hoo Pang Ron-Lai Pei Jing lost in three-game matches to their European rivals in the semi-finals.

Giant-killers Aaron Tai-Roy King gave their all against 26th ranked Danish duo Christian Faust Kjaer-Rasmus Kjaer before going down 21-18, 15-21, 18-21 in 58 minutes at the Saarlandhalle Indoor Arena in Saarbrücken.

Aaron-Roy King, ranked world No 74, had stunned top-seeded Indonesian pair Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Reza Pahlevi Isfahani en route to the last-four stage in the World Tour Super 500 championships.

The Malaysians, who teamed up only months ago, have had a fairytale run in the punishing month-long European circuit, winning the World Tour Super 750 Arctic Open title in Finland in their maiden outing in October.

They also reached the quarter-finals at the Denmark and French Opens, where they defeated higher-ranked opponents.

Pang Ron-Pei Jing, who have also been impressive in the four tournaments in the European leg, went down 20-22, 21-16, 17-21 to world No 3 French duo Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue in a match lasting 70 minutes.

The Malaysians, ranked world No 24, who only paired up in May, were runners-up at the Arctic Open and semi-finalists at the Denmark Open.

Before their European debut, they were runners-up at the Super 750 China Open and semi-finalists at the Macau Open.