Guangzhou: Although World No. 6 Goh Liu Ying/Chan Peng Soon of Malaysia eventually lost to World No. 4 Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand 16-21, 26-28 in their second Group A mixed doubles match on Thursday, and were confirmed not able to make the semi-finals of BWF World Tour Finals, Goh/Chan and Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai managed to produce the longest rally in mixed doubles history at 22-22 of the second set when both were engaged in a 115 shots of back and forth badminton that lasted for 1 minute and 36 seconds.
The audience burst into wild applause when Sapsiree Taerattanachai failed to return a back hand baseline shot from Goh that gave Goh/Chan the game point advantage.
Chan Peng Soon was quick lying down on the court breathing heavily after the rally while Goh Liu Ying sat down on a bench next to the court trying to catch her breath.
Nevertheless, Goh/Chan had to swallow the tough defeat and will play their last Group A match against Seo Seung Jae/Chae Yujung of Korea on Friday.
In men’s singles, World No. 1 Kento Momota remained steady in a marathon match that lasted 83 minutes to beat World No. 3 Anders Antonsen Anders 19-21, 21-15, 21-15 to qualify for the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s men’s pair Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik put up a good fight, but couldn’t overcome Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin to go down 20-22, 23-21, 14-21. The Malaysian coach really has to watch the video to understand why the Malaysian pair always produced bad quality and lazy lift which ended up to be killed easily by their opponents.
