London (Dawn/ANN) - Malaysia's Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong lost their last group match to South Korea's Chung Jae-sung and Lee Yong-dae 21-16, 21-11 on Tuesday but they still made the quarter-finals of the badminton event.
The Malaysians, who ended up as group runners-up after the loss, will take on the Thai pair of Isara Bodin-Jongjit Maneepong at the Wembley Arena today for a place in the last four.
The last group match was of no significance as both the pairs - Kien Keat-Boon Heong and Jae-sung-Yong-dae - had already qualified for the quarter-finals.
Malaysia went into the match knowing that they had a choice as to who they wanted to play in the last eight - the Thais or Indonesia's Mohd Ahsan-Bona Septano.
But Kien Keat and Boon Heong said it never crossed their minds to lose on purpose.
Kien Keat said they wanted to win because "that would have allowed us to avoid top seeds Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China later on".
"We did not play to lose ... it's just that we lost to opponents who are technically superior.
"We will now use the one-day break to recharge for the quarter-finals," he said.
But Kien Keat admitted that they played poorly against the world No. 2 pair from South Korea on Tuesday.
"The Koreans were simply better on the day," he said, vowing to raise their game against the Thais today.
The Malaysians had beaten the Thais in the 2009 SEA Games.
"The Thai pair showed promise back in 2009 and have been playing well here too," said Boon Heong.
"They have defeated fancied pairs from South Korea and Indonesia to top their group, so we must show them respect and tread with caution."
Doubles coach Tan Kim Her described the loss to the Koreans as "useful".
"We tried a couple of things and it worked initially.
"But the Koreans were able to read Koo-Tan's game and countered very well, putting our boys on the back foot. So there are lessons we can learn from the match," he said.