KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 — National top men’s doubles pair, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik have no problem advancing to the second round of the India Open after defeating Japan’s Akira Koga-Taichi Saito in the first round of the tournament in New Delhi today.

Aaron-Wooi Yik, who are ranked fourth in the world, showed a balanced performance at the beginning of the game to win the first set 21-9 in the match at K.D Jadhav Indoor Hall.

Koga-Saito bounced back by edging the national pair 21-19 in the second set before the national duo claimed victory in the deciding set in 21-14.

Aaron-Wooi Yik will face another Japanese pair of Kenya Mitsuhashi-Hiroki Okamura in the second round.

Accompanying their progress was national professional men’s singles Lee Zii Jia who easily defeated Canada’s Brian Yang in straight sets 21-17 and 21-19. Zii Jia will face Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in the next round.

Meanwhile, national men’s doubles Nur Izzuddin Rumsani-Goh Sze Fei also advanced to the second round after overcoming Canadians Adam Dong-Nyl Yakura 21-11 and 21-5 in a 30-minute battle.

The national duo who returned to pair each other last June will meet the Chinese pair Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi.

National mixed doubles Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei also advanced to the round of 16 after defeating the Indonesian representatives Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas Mentari 14-21, 21-11, 21-11.

They are scheduled to meet the Thai pairing of Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai. However, national professional mixed doubles, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing were eliminated in the first round by Japanese pair Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino 7-21 and 12-21. — Bernama