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.
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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