One hurdle over: Aaron Chia (left) and Soh Wooi Yik (right) celebrate after winning their third round match in the World Championships. - Badminton Photo
PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik overcame a major obstacle in their title defence at the World Championships when they downed Olympic Games champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin of Taiwan to march into the quarter-finals in Copenhagen on Thursday (Aug 25).
Aaron-Wooi Yik, the world No. 4, started cautiously but finished with a flourish to outplay the dangerous Lee Yang-Chi-lin 21-16, 21-18 in a 42-minute third round encounter.
They were in a spot of bother after trailing 6-13 in the first game but showed character to fight back and when the score was at 15-15, there was no looking back for Aaron-Wooi Yik.
"It was a great comeback in the first game. We still had some nerves in the second but we tried to keep our focus and stick to the game plan. We didn’t want the match to go into the rubber," said Aaron.
"We are getting better with every match and will be focused for the next one."
National doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky was relieved to see Aaron-Wooi Yik finding their way back into the match after an early struggle.
"Aaron-Wooi Yik were cautious and lacked confidence to battle on court at the start. But once they warmed up, they played without muddled thinking to overcome the Taiwan pair," said Rexy.
They will play Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi of China in the last eight.
It was however, over for world No. 8 Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi when they lost 15-21, 10-21 in 34 minutes to Danish pair Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the third round.
Meanwhile, young pair Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun gave third seeds Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang of China a run for their money before losing 16-21, 21-14, 17-21 in 50 minutes.
