KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 — Former world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik proved why they are Malaysia’s top men’s doubles pair, after seeing off a stiff challenge from compatriots Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King to march into the last eight of the 2025 World Championships in Paris, yesterday.
Competing in the third round at the Adidas Arena, Aaron-Wooi Yik were slow off the mark, dropping the opening set 18-21.
However, the second-seeded duo bounced back to force the game into a decider with 21-18 in the second set.
The rubber set saw both pairs locked in a tense battle, staying neck-and-neck at 24-24 before Aaron-Wooi Yik held their nerve to wrap up the set 26-24, capping an intense hour-long battle.
The winners of the 2022 edition are set to face either ninth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty from India or sixth seeds and Paris 2024 silver medallists, Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang of China, in Friday’s quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, national number one women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah had no trouble getting into the next round with a 21-12, 21-11 win over Indonesia’s Lanny Tria Mayangsari-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti, in just 29 minutes.
Pearly-Thinaah will next meet either the Stoeva sisters - Gabriela and Stefani - from Bulgaria, or Japan’s Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto, to determine a place in the semi-finals. — Bernama