The duo profited at the Turkish venue due to German Lars Fluggen's knee problem, which meant he could not take to the court with compatriot Marcus Bockermann.

Fluggen’s withdrawal marks the second-time this season he has forfeited a World Tour medal match, after the duo pulled out of their bronze clash with Austrians Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl at last month's Qatar Open.

"It is unfortunate about Fluggen’s knee problems,” said Smedins, who won the bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games with Martins Plavins.  

“I know how he feels as I missed several events last season with my own knee problems that resulted in surgery.”

The Latvian duo won the European Championships in Klagenfurt, Austria, in August.

"We were looking forward to playing Markus and Lars,” said Samoilovs.

"We have split four matches with them on the World Tour and today’s gold medal match would have broken the tie.  

"We defeated them twice last September and three weeks later in China they defeated us in a semi-final match in Xiamen in three sets.  

"We have trained with them, so we have a good relationship with them and are disappointed about Lars' knee problems.  

"I know how Markus feels as I went through the same situation last year with Janis.”

With the semi-finals taking place earlier in the day, the Latvians, the fourth seeds, beat sixth-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel of Poland 18-21, 25-23, 15-13 to advance.

Fluggen had been fit enough to join Bockermann in their last four win over Greeks Georgios Kotsilianos and Nikos Zoupanis, which finished 21-16, 21-17.

The Poles came out on top in the bronze medal encounter, 21-14, 21-13.