In good shape: Soh Wooi Yik (front) has been shaping up fine with Aaron Chia ahead of the Olympics in July.
PETALING JAYA: The first two badminton Opens so far this year have given a sneak preview on the early medal contenders for the men’s doubles at the Paris Olympic Games – and surprisingly Indonesia are not in it.
The top five pairs shaping up well right now are Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty of India, Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan, reigning world champions Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae of South Korea, Malaysia’s Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang of China.
Satwiksairaj-Chirag, Hoki-Kobayashi and Min-hyuk-Seung-jae were more consistent as they reached the semi-finals of the ongoing Indian Open and last week’s Malaysian Open.
Weikeng-Wang Chang lifted the Malaysian Open title at Axiata Arena while Aaron-Wooi Yik went one step better from their home tournament to make the last four at the Indian Open in New Delhi on Friday.
For Indonesia, who used to boast with quality and quantity in their doubles, only their top pair Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto reached the quarter-finals in both Opens.
Wooi Yik is thrilled that he has been shaping up fine with Aaron ahead of the Olympics in July.
“Our first Olympics was Tokyo ... it was huge for us, we were the underdogs and finished on the podium. It was a dream come true,” said Wooi Yik, who won a bronze with Aaron at the last edition in Japan in 2021.
“But this time, it will be different. We have gone through many things, played in many tournaments and are more mature as a pair.
“We hope to continue to improve in every tournament and be ready for Paris.”
Said Aaron: “We are excited more than nervous for this coming Olympics because we have the experience now. We know what to expect and we will be ready for it.”
On Thursday, fired up Aaron-Wooi Yik pulled off a fantastic 21-19, 21-19 win against China’s Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi in the quarter-finals at the K.D. Jadhav Indoor Hall to set up the meeting against Satwiksairaj-Chirag.
The world No. 2 Indian pair were in a class of their own in front of their home fans when they outplayed Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-7, 21-10 in just 35 minutes.
World No. 4 Aaron-Wooi Yik have the better record, having beaten the Indians eight times in 10 meetings but the former cannot take their opponents lightly as they have lost in the last two encounters at the Indonesian Open and Asian Games in Hangzhou last year.
RESULTS
SEMI-FINALS
Women’s singles: Tai Tzu-ying (Tpe) bt Yeo Jia Min (Sin) 21-13, 21-18; Chen Yufei (Chn) bt Wang Zhiyi (Chn) 21-13, 21-18.
Women’s doubles: Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu (Chn) bt Li Wenmei-Liu Xuanxuan (Chn) 19-21, 21-17, 21-18; Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara (Jpn) bt Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor) 21-13, 21-16.
Mixed doubles: Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) bt Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun (Kor) 21-19, 21-18; Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha) bt Ye Hong-wei-Lee Chia-hsin (Tpe) 18-21, 21-15, 21-19.
QUARTER-FINALS
Men’s singles: H. S. Prannoy (Ind) bt Wang Tzu-wei (Tpe) 21-11, 17-21, 21-18; Shi Yuqi (Chn) bt Koki Watanabe (Jpn) 23-21, 21-13.
Men’s doubles: Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Supak Jomkoh-Kittinupong Kedren (Tha) 21-8, 21-10; Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) bt Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto (Ina) 21-14, 21-18; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) 21-7, 21-10; Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik bt Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi (Chn) 21-19, 21-19;
Women’s singles: Chen Yufei (Chn) bt Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) 21-9, 21-13;
Women’s doubles: Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu (Chn) bt Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida (Jpn) 21-9, 11-21, 21-19; Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor) bt Rena Miyaura-Ayako Sakuramoto (Jpn) 21-12, 21-16.
