Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai were denied their first Super 500 (formerly Superseries) title on Sunday when they lost to Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu in the women's doubles decider at the US$350,000 (approximately 11.2 million baht) India Open.
The Thai second seeds, who made their first appearance in a Super 500 final, went down to the No.3 seeds from Indonesia 18-21, 15-21 at Siri Fort Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.
It was the pair's second loss against world No.7 Polii and Rayahu, who also won the only other meeting between the two teams at the Korea Open last year 21-15, 24-22.
The Thais took home $13,300 (425,600 baht), while the winners received $27,650 (884,800 baht).
Jongkolphan and Rawinda, currently ranked 11th in the world rankings, are projected to move up to No.8 when the new list is released later this week.
Their impressive performance in New Delhi also earned praise from Badminton Association of Thailand president Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul.
"Both Jongkolphan and Rawinda did their best today. They didn't win the title, but I have to say it was another successful week for Thai badminton," said Patama.
"Since the beginning of the year, the Thai badminton players have won four titles so far. Ratchanok [Intanon] reached the semis in her last two tournaments -- the Indonesia Masters and the India Open.
"Jongkolphan and Rawinda have played three events this year and won one at the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters. They reached the quarter-finals in Indonesia and the final in India this week."
"Our badminton players have shown remarkable improvement this year," added Patama.
Fifth seed Zhang Beiwen of the US stunned Indian top seed Pusarla V Sindhu, who knocked out Ratchanok Intanon in the semi-finals, 21-18, 11-21, 22-20 to win the women's singles crown.
Fourth seed Shi Yuqi of China won the men's singles honours after beating No.3 seed Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan 21-18, 21-14, while fifth seeds Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark defeated Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti of Indnesia 21-14, 21-15 in the mixed doubles decider.
Top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia beat fourth seeds Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 21-14, 21-16 in the men's doubles final.
