PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s women’s team went down fighting in their bid to reach the semi-finals after a 1-3 defeat to South Korea in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games quarter-finals on Tuesday (Sept 22).

K. Letshanaa was first on court at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium in Aichi, but found world No. 1 An Se-young too hot to handle in a 12-21, 8-21 defeat.

Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah then pulled Malaysia level at 1-1 with an impressive 22-20, 21-17 win over world champions Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee.

South Korea regained the advantage when Wong Ling Ching went down 12-21, 18-21 to Kim Ga-eun in the second singles.

Malaysia’s scratch pair Cheng Su Yin-Low Zi Yu then came agonisingly close to forcing a deciding third singles match.

They took the opening game against Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jong before losing 21-18, 11-21, 22-24 in a tense battle, handing South Korea the winning point.

The Malaysian shuttlers will now turn their attention to the individual events starting on Sept 25.