KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — National men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were shown the exit by China’s unseeded combination of He Ji Ting-Zhou Hao Dong in the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Masters badminton championships in Jakarta today.

Aaron-Wooi Yik, the 2022 world champions, continued to blow hot and cold en route to losing 17-21, 10-21 to the China pair in 38 minutes at the Istora Senayan.

The fourth-seeded Malaysians began the first game in style to take an 11-8 lead before suddenly losing their rhythm to succumb 17-21 and, in the second game, left themselves with a mountain to climb when they trailed the China pair 4-12 before going on to lose 10-21.

World number 21 Ji Ting-Hao Dong will face either compatriots Liu Ye Chen-Ou Xuan Yi or top-seeded Indonesians Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the last four.

Aaron-Wooi Yik, who are ranked second in the world after winning the men’s doubles title in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships last August, had crashed out in the second round of the Malaysia Open earlier this month before losing in the final of the India Open last week.

It was not all doom and gloom in the Malaysian camp, however, when national number one women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah checked in to the semi-finals of the Super 500 tournament.

In today’s quarter-finals, 2022 French Open champions Pearly-Thinaah, who are also the sixth seeds, took just 37 minutes to dispose of unseeded China pair Li Wen Mei-Liu Xuan Xuan 21-10, 21-12.

The world number six Malaysians will face either India’s Tanisha Crasto-Ashwini Ponnappa or Japan’s Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota in the last four. — Bernama