KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — National top men’s doubles pair, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik would have another shot to break their semi-final jinx after they showed South Korean pair, Choi Sol Gyu-Seo Seung Jae the exit in the last eight of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships 2022 in Tokyo today.
It was a closely fought battle in the first set after both pairs traded points until 9-9, before the Malaysian duo prevailed to take the opening game with 21-18 in the event held in Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
After trailing by one point margin in the second set interval, 10-11, Aaron-Wooi Yik, sixth seed, then stepped up their gear to seal the tie with 21-16 victory over the tenth seed pair.
Speaking after the match to BWF, Wooi Yik acknowledged the fact their calmness on the court played a pivotal role in helping them to surmount the challenge from today’s opponent.
“Key to our win today was we were able to play calmly and I can see that we had produced numbers of high-quality shots that had certainly given pressure to our opponent,” he said.
Meanwhile, Aaron hoped to keep the momentum as they were keen to end their semi-final curse in a bid to play in the final match come Sunday.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games bronze medallist will take on seventh seed, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty from India, who created an upset over defending champions, Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yiugo Kobayashi, 24-22, 15-21, 21-14.
Aaron-Wooi Yik had been unable to go beyond the semi-final six times this year including at the recently concluded Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games after they fell to English pair, Ben Lane-Sean Vendy, 21-18, 17-21, 4-21.
Meanwhile, two Malaysian mixed doubles professional duo, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing will also be in the other quarter-final action, later today.
Soon Huat-Shevon will be facing the third seed, Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino of Japan while Kian Meng-Pei Jing will determine a semi-final place against the top seed from China, Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong.
— Bernama
