It's over: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik's good run in the Indian Open ended in the semi-finals. - S.S.KANESAN/THE STAR
PETALING JAYA: A shuttle hit the left eye of shuttler Aaron Chia at 13-13 in the second game against Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty of India.
And that eventually led to Aaron and Soh Wooi Yik losing their momentum as they gave away the next eight points in quick fashion and went down 18-21, 14-21 to the homesters in the men's doubles semi-finals of the Indian Open at the K.D Jadhav Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday (Jan 20).
While Aaron, with his red eye, left immediately to get medical help, the Indians celebrated together with their home fans.
Before the incident, both pairs were engaged in a tight match, with only few points separating them from the start. In fact, there were hardly any long rallies in the opening game as both were snapping at each other's heels.
It started in the same aggressive manner in the second before Chirag's super quick return hit the eye of Aaron. It went downhill for the Malaysians after that while the Indians stepped on the gas to reach the final.
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Said a disappointed Aaron via an interview with the Badminton World Federation: "I'm alright but it's frustrating to end the match this way. I won't blame my eye condition completely although it did affect us in a small way.
"We started quite well in the first game but we did not play to our advantage in the second, and that's the reason for the defeat."
Added coach Tan Bin Shen: "There was a sharp pain in Aaron's eye when the shuttle hit him and it was blurry for him for a while. He is good now...it's just unfortunate that it happened during the match."
It was the former world champions Aaron-Wooi Yik's third straight loss to the Indians in 11 meetings.
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Satwiksairaj-Chirag will face reigning world champions Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae of South Korea in the title match on Sunday.
In the men's singles, Lee Cheuk Yiu, coached by Malaysia's Wong Choong Hann, made it to the final after beating Kodai Naraoka of Japan 21-13, 15-21, 21-19 and will take on China's Shi Yuqi.
RESULTS
SEMI-FINALS
Men's singles: Lee Cheuk Yiu (Hkg) bt Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) 21-13, 15-21, 21-19; Shi Yuqi (Chn) bt H.S. Prannoy (Ind) 21-15, 21-5.
Men's doubles: Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) bt Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) 21-19, 21-14; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (Mas) 21-18, 21-14.
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.
