KUALA LUMPUR Sept 10 — National top men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia – Soh Wooi Yik will have to wait longer for their maiden Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour title, after missing a chance in the 2023 China Open final, earlier today.
The world number six pair were far off their best form to concede the World Tour Super 1000 title to China’s Liang Wei Keng – Wang Chang at the Changzhou Olympic Sports Centre.
The world number three Chinese pair claimed their fourth World Tour title with a 21 – 12, 21 – 14 victory in just 26 minutes, their fifth win in six matches against the 2022 world champion.
Despite having advanced to the final six times in the World Tour, the title remains elusive for Chia – Soh.
They advanced to the final after defeating world champions Kang Min Hyuk – Seo Seung Jae of South Korea in the semi-finals yesterday, while the Chinese pair disposed of Japan’s Takuro Hoki – Yugo Kobayashi.
The sole Malaysian pair to have won the China Open men’s doubles title was Datuk Razif Sidek – Datuk Seri Jalani Sidek, who bagged the title in 1989.
Earlier, world number one men’s singles Viktor Axelsen showed another dominating display to clinch his career’s 21st World Tour title.
Axelsen beat the host’s world number 15 Lu Guang Zu 21 – 16, 21 – 19 in 49 minutes to become only the second Danish player to capture the China Open men’s singles crown after Jan O Jorgensen’s feat in 2016.
In the women’s singles title decider, world number one An Se Young of South Korea downed world number two and 2017 champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21 – 10, 21 – 19.
— Bernama
