Taiwanese female badminton duo bows out in Thailand Open semifinals

Taipei, May 17 (CNA) Taiwan's Hsu Ya-ching (許雅晴) and Sung Yu-hsuan (宋祐媗) were eliminated from the women's doubles at the 2025 Thailand Open following a straight-games loss in the semifinals Saturday.

Hsu and Sung lost to South Korea's Jeong Na-eun and Lee Yeon-woo 21-17, 21-19 after a 55-minute battle, leaving no Taiwanese competitors remaining in the Super 500 tournament.

Jeong, who began partnering with Lee this year, previously won an Olympic silver medal in mixed doubles at the 2024 Paris Games.

Ranked No. 61 in the world, Hsu and Sung reached the semifinals after upsetting their world No. 20 compatriots Hsu Yin-hui (許尹鏸) and Lin Jhih-yun (林芝昀) on Friday.

It was the duo's deepest run so far in the roughly six months they have teamed up.

Following their match Saturday, the 33-year-old Hsu told CNA that she and the 22-year-old Sung followed their game plan, but unforced errors at critical moments in the match proved costly.

Despite her disappointment at losing, Hsu said reaching the semifinals was a good result, and she hoped the duo can maintain their form and consistently reach at least the quarterfinals or semifinals of upcoming tournaments.

They will next compete in the Malaysia Masters, which opens Tuesday.