After playing bridesmaid in the last four editions South Korea established themselves favourites to win the Badminton Asia Mixed Team title after the top seeds beat Japan 3-1 in the semi-finals on Monday.
The Koreans will face second seeds Indonesia in the final on Tuesday after the hosts ended Malaysia's hopes with a 3-1 win in the other semi-final.
Indonesia had it easy against the Malaysians after Malaysia's 2015 world junior champion Goh Jin Wei limped off injured and handed victory to Gregoria Mariska in the women's singles.
Mariska won the first game 21-11 and was leading 17-16 in the second game when the Malaysian suffered a recurrence of her left ankle injury, which left her in tears, for Indonesia's first point.
It was 1-1 when Malaysia's Leong Jun Hao won his men's singles against Gatjra Piliang Fiqihilahi Cupu 21-17, 21-12. But was a battle in vain for Malaysia.
Indonesia were 2-1 in the lead when Malaysia conceded a walkover in the women's doubles following Jin Wei's injury. Jin Wei was to partner Pearly Tan Koong Le in the women's doubles against Agatha Imanuela-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti.
Indonesia clinched the winning point for an unassailable 3-1 lead through Muhammad Shohibul Fikri-Adnan Maulana in the men's doubles who defeated Chang Yee Jun-Man Wei Chong 21-17, 21-15.
Korea were cruising to the final after easily winning the mixed doubles and men's singles through Sung Seung Na-Seong Ah-yeong and Woo Seung Hoon respectively for a 2-0 lead but Japan delayed the proceedings a bit longer by winning the men's doubles.
In the mixed doubles the Koreans won against Takuma Obayashi-Natsu Saito 21-13, 21-16 while in the men's singles Kodai Naraoka could not stop Ah-yeong from a 7-21, 21-19 win.
Japan's men's doubles Mahiro Kaneko-Yunosuke Kubota narrowed the deficit after a 64-minute battle against Kang Min-hyuk-Kim Moon Jun before prevailing 21-23, 21-15, 21-17.
Park Ga-eun dished out the winning point for the Koreans in the women's singles – winning 21-15, 21-13 against Hirari Mizui.
SEMI-FINAL RESULTS
Indonesia beat Malaysia 3-1
(Indonesia first)
WS: Gregoria Mariska beat Goh Jin Wei 21-11, 17-16 (rtd)
MS: Leong Jun Hao beat Gatjra Piliang Fiqihilahi Cupu 21-17, 21-12
WD: Agatha Imanuele-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti w/o Goh Jin Wei-Pearly Tan Koong Le
MD: Muhammad Shohibul Fikri-Adnan Maulana beat Chang Yee Jun-Man Chong Wei Man 21-17, 21-15
Korea beat Japan 3-1
(Korea first)
XD: Sung Seung-Na-Seong Ah-yeong beat Takuma Obayashi-Natsu Saito 21-13, 21-16
MS: Woo Seung-hoon beat Kodai Naraoka 21-7, 21-19
MD: Kang Min-hyuk-Kim Moon-jun lost to Mahiro Kaneko-Yunosuke Kubota 23-21, 15-21, 17-21
WS: Park Ga-eun beat Hirari Mizui 21-15, 21-13
