KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 — It was not an ideal start for the reigning men’s doubles world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in the season ending Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals in Bangkok, Thailand.
The world number four faced another setback against three-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia, losing 12-21, 15-21 in a Group B tie at the Nimibutr Arena, tonight.
Based on their head-to-head record, the Indonesian pair has won eight of 11 matches played, while the last three matches were won by Aaron-Wooi Yik.
With only top two of the group advancing into the semi-finals, Aaron-Wooi Yik now must win their remaining group stage matches against Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi of China and Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark, tomorrow and Friday.
“We tried to break their rhythm in the first game, but unfortunately they controlled the game, so we lost confidence a bit,” Aaron told BWF in the post-match interview.
Wooi Yik expressed disappointment for not being able to recover from a slow start to fight back in a match that was regarded as having equal chances of winning.
In Group A, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi went down 19–21, 16–21 against Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi, and will be facing Choi Sol Gyu-Kim Won Ho of South Korea tomorrow.
Meanwhile, independent mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing were the only Malaysian representatives to win on the first day, by stunning Olympic champions Wang Yi Lyu-Huang Dong Ping of China 23-21, 14-21, 21-16 in Group B.
The world number eight will be facing another uphill task against Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand tomorrow, and a win will confirm their place in the semi-finals, ahead of the final group fixture against Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand.
In Group A, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai lost 12-21, 15-21 to Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas Mentari of Indonesia.
The Women’s doubles challenge saw world number nine Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah suffer a setback against world number 14 Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti from Indonesia, going down 21-23, 19-21 in Group B.
The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games champions Pearly-Thinaah, next face an acid test against world number one Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan of China tomorrow, before playing another Chinese pair Zhang Shu Xian-Zheng Yu, ranked seventh, on Friday.
Another pair in the women’s doubles, Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien lost to Jeong Na Eun-Kim Hye Jeong of South Korea 18-21, 13-21 and play Benyapa Aimsaard-Nuntakarn Aimsaard from the host country tomorrow to keep their hopes alive. — Bernama
