PETALING JAYA: The Axiata Arena went silent when national mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai failed to make it to the Malaysia Open final, losing to Thai pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran.
The much younger Thais, ranked world No 57, broke the hearts of the capacity crowd by defeating the world No 6 Malaysians 17-21, 21-12, 21-16 in a match lasting 63 minutes.
Soon Huat-Shevon, who are said to have suffered from flu at the beginning of the tournament on Tuesday, started off well by taking the first game.
However, the husband-and-wife combination could not cope with the fast pace set by their younger opponents in the next two games.
It was their second defeat to the Thai pair in three encounters.
Dechapol-Supissara will take on the winners of the other semi-final between Malaysia’s Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and China’s Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping.