Taiwanese table tennis players Cheng I-ching (鄭怡靜) and Li Yu-jhun (李昱諄) finished in second place in the women's doubles at the WTT Star Contender Goa 2023 in India on Sunday, after they lost to a pair from Japan.
In the final that lasted 51 minutes, Miwa Harimoto and Miyu Nagasaki of Japan routed the Taiwanese duo 11-9, 11-7, 11-6, at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium.
Cheng and Li got off to a shaky start, trailing 0-3, and they could not make a comeback against the aggressive play by the Japanese in the first game.
Although the Taiwanese players rallied in the second game to draw level, their opponents continued to push pace to take another win.
Cheng and Li tried to recover, but the Japanese pair was too strong, and after a string of errors, the Taiwanese lost the match in straight games.
The Taiwanese duo has been partnering on a regular basis since the second half of 2022, and they won the women's doubles title at the WTT Contender Amman in February.
Their defeat Sunday in the women's doubles came just hours after Cheng was trounced by Wang Yidi (王藝迪) of China in four straight games in the women's singles final.
Ranked 31st in the world in women's singles, Cheng lost 6-11, 6-11, 8-11, 4-11 to Wang, in a match that lasted only 37 minutes.
