Malaysia's Aaron Chia, right, and Soh Wooi Yik play against Indonesia's Bagas Maulana and Muhammad Sohibul Fikri during their men's doubles round of 32 match at Indonesia Open badminton tournament at Istora stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
PETALING JAYA: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik need to find the winning formula quickly to overcome Japan’s Akira Koga-Taichi Saito.
The world champions will cross swords with the Japanese in today’s Indonesian Open quarter-finals after both had won their respectively second-round matches in contrasting styles.
Yesterday, Aaron-Wooi Yik did well to beat South Korea’s world No. 9 Choi Sol-gyu-Kim Won-ho 21-19, 21-16 at the Istora Senayan Stadium in Jakarta.
They were left trailing 16-18 in the opening game but made a good comeback to win and showed their quality to wrap the second game without much problems.
Koga-Saito were impressive in their 21-18, 22-24, 21-16 win against fifth seeds Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi of China.
Aaron-Wooi Yik have come out second best to Koga-Saito in both their meetings this year in the German and Swiss Opens in March.
The world No. 3 Aaron-Wooi Yik can pull off their first win over the world No. 23 pair this year if they can stick to their game plan and move around the court confidently.
In the overall head-to-head meetings, Koga-Saito hold a narrow advantage, having beaten Aaron-Wooi Yik in three of their past five encounters.
The latter had beaten the former twice last year in the Malaysian Open and Masters.
Aaron hopes to remain calm as how they were while trailing behind in the first game against the Koreans yesterday.
“We didn’t start the first game well but we remained calm during the crucial points,” said Aaron.
“After winning the first game, we played more confidently.
“We need to keep focusing and give 100% on court in our next match.”
Aaron-Wooi Yik are the only Malaysian representatives left in the tournament after independent pairs Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (men’s doubles) and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (mixed doubles) crashed out.
World No. 7 Yew Sin-Ee Yi narrowly lost out 20-22, 17-21 to homesters and world No. 10 Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin.
Meanwhile, Kian Meng-Pei Jing’s weak form this year continued when they went down 17-21, 16-21 to another home pair Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas.
The defeat meant that the pair have still not managed to reach the quarter-finals in any of their individual tournaments this year.
Kian Meng-Pei Jing’s disappointing form have seen them slip to No. 18 in the latest world rankings and their hopes of qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics are fast fading.
RESULTS
(Malaysians Only)
Second round
Men’s doubles: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik bt Choi Sol-gyu-Kim Won-ho (Kor) 21-19, 21-16; Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin (Ina) bt Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi 22-20, 21-17.
Mixed doubles: Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas (Ina) bt Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing 21-17, 21-16.
