India’s Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar are on course to defend the title at the third Asian doubles squash championships after the pair stormed into the final at Sarawak, Malaysia.

The Indian top seeds will meet second-seeded Pakistan pair of Nasir Iqbal and Noor Zaman in the title clash on Sunday.

On Saturday, Abhay and Velavan defeated Japan’s Naoki Hayashi and Ren Makino 11-3, 10-12, 11-5 in the quarterfinals, and Malaysian third seeds Sanjay Jeeva and Duncan Lee 11-7, 11-9 in the semifinals.

However, the Indian women’s second-seeded pair of Joshna Chinappa and Rathika Seelan lost to top seeds Ainaa Amani and Yee Xin Ying of Malaysia 9-11, 7-11 in the semifinals, while mixed doubles second seeds Joshna and Velavan, the bronze medallists last year, also went down in the last-four stage, going down to Malaysian fifth seeds Ainaa Amani and Md. Kamal 8-11, 11-8, 8-11.

Both pairs finished with bronze medals.