PARIS, Aug 4 — National men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik today rose from defeat to defend bronze at the Olympics.
At the dramatic decider at Porte de La Chapelle Arena, they beat Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 16-21, 22-20, 21-19 to maintain their Olympic bronze medal.
Earlier, the 2022 world champions were shaky and made blunders that cost them the first set.
The world No. 3 pair then found their rhythm to meet the Danes 20-20, before winning the second set 22-20 and getting into the groove.
In the third set, Aaron-Wooi Yik played a tight game to overcome the world No. 2 pair and defend the bronze they earned last edition.
At Tokyo 2020, the pair beat ex-world champions Mohamad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia at the bronze decider.
They missed the chance to graduate to gold or silver after losing 19-21, 21-15, 17-21 to Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang of China in a nail-biting semi final on Friday.
Malaysia has earned Olympic medals four times in the men’s doubles event since badminton was introduced in the 1992 Barcelona edition.
Datuk Razif Sidek-Datuk Seri Jalani Sidek gave Malaysia its first Olympic bronze in the first edition, followed by silvers from Datuk Cheah Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock at Atlanta 1996 and Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong at Rio 2016, before Aaron-Wooi Yik’s bronze at Tokyo 2020.
— Bernama
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