Well done: Aaron Chia (right) and Soh Wooi Yik beat Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae of South Korea 21-18, 21-17 to reach their third final this year.
PETALING JAYA: Shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik have made a quick rebound to exact sweet revenge against reigning world champions Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae of South Korea.
Just two weeks after Aaron-Wooi Yik were effectively dethroned as men’s doubles world champions by Min-hyuk-Seung-jae at the World Championships in Copenhagen, the Malaysians turned the tables on Min-hyuk-Seung-jae in style on the same stage of the China Open.
The world No. 6 displayed one of their best performances in recent times to topple the South Korean world No. 4 21-18, 21-17 to reach their third final this year at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Changzhou yesterday.
Aaron-Wooi Yik had finished runners-up in the Indian Open in January and Indonesian Open in June.
Standing in their way to the title are home favourites and world No. 3 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang.
The Chinese pair had to dig deep to beat Japan’s 2021 world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi 21-16, 20-22, 22-20 in the other last-four match.
Wooi Yik, who was glum after the failure to defend the world crown with Aaron, had reason to smile again with the impressive win.
“We are feeling very good after this win,” said Wooi Yik in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“It was one of the best performances we’ve had.
“We are satisfied to win today (yesterday) because they are the world champions and we lost to them two weeks ago.
“Overall, we were quite consistent, we had improved and gained in confidence.
Aaron said: “As we know, Seo is quick and we had to play tactically to break their momentum. We can’t afford to rely on speed with them.”
Aaron-Wooi Yik have now given themselves another opportunity to end their agonising wait for a World Tour title when they face Weikeng-Wang Chang and their home fans.
Based on the head-to-head records, Weikeng-Wang Chang hold the advantage over Aaron-Wooi Yik after coming out on top against the latter four times in their past five meetings, including in the final of the Indian tourney.
Aaron-Wooi Yik’s sole success over the Chinese pair came in the Indonesian Masters right after the Indian Open.
On the title decider, Wooi Yik said: “There’s no pressure on us as it’s their home ground.
“We will just prepare our minds to fight them and give it our best shot.”
