Leo Rolly Carnando and Bagas Maulana have had a dream start to their partnership – winning only their second event as a pair at Korea Open 2024 on Sunday.

The Indonesians, semifinalists at their partnership’s debut at Japan Open the week before, did it in style by coming from a game down to best world champions Kang Min Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae 18-21 21-9 21-8 in their own backyard.

“We’ve surprised ourselves with this win. We played without pressure so we were able to enjoy the match and give our all,” said Carnando, who reached a career-high world No.9 with previous partner Daniel Marthin.

Maulana added: “We didn’t have an ideal start (to the match) but after discussing tactics with our coaches, we recovered and got the job done.

“We can feel we’ve got better this week (after the semifinal finish in Japan) but the work continues. There are still things to improve on and we want to keep learning.”

Carnando and Maulana came together after their respective failed Race to Paris Olympic qualification campaigns. They are next slated to appear at LI-NING Hong Kong Open 2024, which starts on 10 September.

Waits End

Meanwhile, Lu Guang Zu and local women’s pair Kim Hye Jeong/Jeong Na Eun ended their title droughts in Seoul.

Lu, last winner on the HSBC BWF World Tour in 2018 at the Australian Open, defeated the unseeded Lee Chia Hao 21-16 20-22 21-18.

Kim and Jeong, reunited in Tokyo after a brief split, sidestepped Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan 21-12 21-11 for their first crown in 10 months. Their last success also came in their country, at Korea Masters 2023 in November.

In women’s singles, Kim Ga Eun was declared the winner after injury forced her opponent Wang Zhi Yi to concede a walkover.

→ Results (Finals)