KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — Defending champions Aaron Chia – Soh Wooi Yik were the sole Malaysian representatives to advance to the semi-finals of the 2023 World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The country’s top men’s doubles pair, who are ranked fourth in the world, however, were forced to work hard to defeat China’s Liu Yu Chen – Ou Xuan Yi to confirm victory in 21 – 10, 15 – 21 and 21 – 14, in a 50-minute match at the Royal Arena early Saturday morning.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games bronze medallists finally succeeded in taking revenge on Yu Chen – Xuan Yi after having been defeated by the latter three times before, at the 2022 Indonesia Open, 2022 World Tour and 2023 Malaysia Open.
In the semi-finals later this evening, Chia – Soh will face South Korean pair, Kang Min Hyuk – Seo Seung Jae, after they showed the way out to the experienced pair of Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia, 21 – 19 and 21 – 17 .
On Friday, national top women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan – M. Thinaah exited in the quarter-finals after succumbing to the Chinese pair Zhang Shu Xian – Zheng Yu, 17 – 21, 21 – 17 and 21 – 19.
National mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie – Toh Ee Wei, meanwhile, were defeated by last edition’s silver medallists Yuta Watanabe – Arisa Higashino from Japan, 11 – 21 and 11 – 21.
— Bernama
