Strong pair: India's Chirag Shetty (right) and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy celebrate after winning the men's doubles badminton group stage match against Indonesia during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Porte de la Chapelle Arena in Paris on July 30. - AFP
PETALING JAYA: Former world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik will face off with Asian Games winners Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in what is set to be a mouth-watering Olympic Games men's doubles quarter-final match-up.
It's a tough draw and Aaron-Wooi Yik know that they have to bring out their A-game to overcome the Indians who are billed as one of the favourites for the Olympics gold at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle in Paris on Thursday.
The Malaysian duo have beaten the Indians in eight out of their 11 meetings but unfortunately, have lost in all their last three encounters against the fast-attacking pair.
Aaron-Wooi Yik are hoping to do better than their bronze medal win at the last Tokyo Olympics Games while the Indians are fired up to win their first Olympics medal. Expect the match to go down the wire.
If the Malaysians win, they will play top seeds and world No. 1 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang of China in the semi-finals.
QUARTER-FINALS: Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang (Chn) vs Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian (Ina); Satwiiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) vs Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (Mas); Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) vs Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae (Kor); Supak Jomkol-Kittinupong Kedren (Tha) vs Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin (Tpe).
