KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — National men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia – Soh Wooi Yik are hoping to be third time lucky when they take on China’s Liu Yu Chen – Ou Xuan Yi in the second round of the 2023 Malaysia Open badminton championships at the Axiata Arena tomorrow.
Aaron – Wooi Yik, who emerged triumphant at the World Badminton Championships in Tokyo, Japan last year, will hold a detailed discussion with their panel of coaches to come up with the right strategy against the world number six China pair.
The Malaysians lost twice to the China pair last year — in the semi-finals of the Indonesia Open in June and in the group stage of the World Tour Finals Championships in Bangkok, Thailand in December.
“We have lost twice to them but, to me, that is not a problem. This is the first tournament for the year and everyone is starting on a clean slate.
“I will discuss with our coach our strategy. We know that here (in Axiata), the draught is quite strong, so whoever can control their game better should have the advantage,” said Aaron.
In the first round today, world number three Aaron- Wooi Yik needed 56 minutes to oust Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-Huei – Yang Po-Hsuan 16 – 21, 21 – 15, 21 – 16.
There was, however, no such luck for two other Malaysian men’s doubles pairs when Goh Sze Fei – Nur Izzudin Mohd Rumsani went down 21 – 16, 11 – 21, 17 – 21 to China’s Liang Wei Keng – Wang Chan while Man Wei Chong – Tee Kai Wun went down fighting 18 – 21, 21 – 23 to second seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon – Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia.
— Bernama
