KUALA LUMPUR: Coming in second is simply not good enough for Malaysian pair Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong.
Despite reaching the KL Masters men's doubles final on Sunday, their first at the Super 100 level, the world No. 49 independent pair couldn't finish with a flourish, losing 23-21, 21-17 to Taiwan's Chen Cheng Kuan-Chen Sheng Fa.
To add to their woes, the Taiwanese duo are ranked lower at No. 72.
"Very disappointed to lose today because technically we had the advantage of playing at home," Eng Cheong said.
"However, I was under a lot of pressure, not from the fans or our opponents but my own," he said.
Hang Yee pointed out that no athlete will be satisfied with finishing second best, especially after working so hard to reach the final.
For the record, Hang Yee-Eng Cheong made six final appearances this season, but only won twice — at the Mongolia International Challenge and Slovenia Open.
"We still have a long way to go and a lot to do. There is no point in reaching the final if we are not going to win it.
"We can't be satisfied with finishing second best," added Hang Yee.Hang Yee-Eng Cheong, who train under former international Rosman Razak, are hoping to break into the top 32 by the end of the year.
Achieving this would grant them access to compete in bigger tournaments, such as the Super 500 and Super 1000 events.
"Of course reaching our maiden Super 100 final is a good breakthrough, but we need more, we have to stay hungry," said Hang Yee.
The Malaysians left for Gwangju on Sunday night to compete in this week's Super 300 Korea Masters before closing their season with two tournaments in India — the Super 300 Syed Modi International (Nov 28-Dec 3) in Lucknow and the Super 100 Guwahati Masters (Dec 5-10) in Assam.