WONG Choong Hann could not prevent an all-Chinese final as he crashed to a three-game defeat, 15-8, 12-15, 15-8, at the hands of Chen Hong in the semi-finals of the Korean Open in Chungju City yesterday. After the disappointment of being knocked out early in the Swiss Open and All England championships, hopes were high on Choong Hann to make a strong comeback in the Korean and Japan Opens. However, while he did marginally better than the two European circuits, Choong Hann found Chen Hong a tough customer as he failed to get the better of the Chinese after another 70-minute battle. In the quarter-finals, Choong Hann beat Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark in a 74-minute thriller. Choong Hann's defeat also means Malaysia's challenge in the US200,000 (RM760,000) five star competition comes to an end. Chen Hong will now take on world champion Xia Xuanze in the final. Xia, who crashed out in the third round of the All England, beat Korean Park Tae Sang 15-9, 17-15 to book his place in the final. China also flexed their muscles in the men's doubles with Sang Yang-Zheng Bo surprising the field with an emphatic 15-10, 15-8 win over Indonesia's Flandi Limpele-Eng Hian in the semi-finals. The Chinese will take on another Indonesia pair - Luluk Hadiyanto-Alven Yulianto in the final. Luluk-Alven beat Koreans Yim Bang Eun-Kim Yong Hyun 15-6, 15-5. However, the Chinese juggernaut suffered a slight hiccup when Korea's Jun Jae Youn gave the home fans something to cheer for when she qualified for the women's singles final. With third seed Zhang Ning getting the better of World No 1 Gong Ruina 11-7, 11-3 in a mere 17 minutes, the stage was set for another all-Chinese final when Jae Youn took to the court against Xu Huaiwen, a surprise 10-13, 11-7, 11-6 winner over second seed Zhou Mi in the semi-finals. However, the eighth seeded Korean rose to the occasion to triumph 11-9, 7-11, 11-5. In the women's doubles, the Chinese pair of Yang Wei-Zhang Jiewen, who made the headlines for the wrong reasons at the recent All England championships in Birmingham, made it to the final after disposing Korea's Lee Hyo Jung-Hwang Yu Mi 15-6, 15-12. They will now take on Korea's Ra Kyung Min-Lee Kyung Won in the final. The Koreans beat China's Gao Ling-Huang Sui 15-12, 10-15, 15-8. In Birmingham, Yang-Zhang withdrew, the third time they have done so, after qualifying for the women's doubles final against Gao Ling-Huang Sui. If the Chinese dominated the other events, it was the turn of the Koreans to dominate the mixed doubles when Kim Dong Moon-Ra Kyung Min and Kim Yong Hyun-Lee Hyo Jun qualifying for the final today. Kim-Ra beat China's Chen Qiqiu-Zhao Tingting 15-2, 15-5 while Kim-Lee overwhelmed Thailand's Sudket Prapakamol-Saralee Thungthongkam 15-13, 15-12. Nst
