Malaysian mixed doubles pairs Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai suffered opening-day defeats at the inaugural 2018 BWF World Tour Finals in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday.

The 2016 Rio Olympic silver medalists of Chan and Goh lost 20-22 and 13-21 to world number four Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping of China in their Group B match held at the Tianhe Gymnasium, while Goh and Lai went down 19-21 and 10-21 to world number 10 Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in Group A.

Chan-Goh will meet Indonesian youngsters Hafiz Faizal-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja, while Goh-Lai will face world number one Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong of China in their second group matches on Thursday.

The four shuttlers are Malaysia's only representatives at the tournament, in which the top two pairs from each group advance to the semi-finals.

Previously known as the BWF Super Series Finals, this season-ending tournament on BWF’s calendar sees the top eight players from the five different categories – men and women’s singles and doubles as well as mixed doubles – vying for the US$1.5 million (RM6.285 million) total prize money.