Tough luck: Malaysia's Aaron Chia, left, and Soh Wooi Yik play against China's Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang during their men's doubles badminton semi-finals at the Olympic Games in Paris, France. - AP
PETALING JAYA: Men's doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik suffered a heartbreaking defeat to China's world No. 1 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang in the semi-finals of the Paris Olympics on Friday.
World No. 3 Aaron-Wooi Yik fought their hearts out but it was not enough as they narrowly went down 19-21, 21-15, 17-21 to Weikeng-Wang Chang in a pulsating 68-minute clash at Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle.
It was the 2021 Tokyo Games bronze medallists' third loss to the Chinese pair in nine meetings.
Aaron-Wooi Yik's hopes of winning the elusive gold is now over but the pair have an opportunity to win their second bronze when they take on either Taiwan's defending champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin or Denmark's world No. 2 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the bronze medal match on Sunday.