KUALA LUMPUR: National men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik have only a slim chance of qualifying for the semi-finals of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals after going down 21-18, 18-21, 20-22 to China’s Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi in their second Group A match today.
This was the world number three Malaysian’s second defeat in Group A, having lost 16-21, 21-14, 18-21 to Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi yesterday.
In today’s match against Yu Chen-Xuan Yi, the Malaysians did well to take the first game 21-18 and even led for a while in the second before succumbing 18-21 at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre.
In the decider, both pairs fought neck-and-neck until 20-20 before Yu Chen-Xuan Yi held their nerves to clinch victory - their third over Aaron-Wooi Yik in six meetings.
In their final group match tomorrow, the national pair face a tough hurdle as they will have to beat China’s world number one pair of Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chan to stand a chance of making the semi-finals.
Based on the tournament format, only the top two pairs from each group will advance to the last four.
For the record, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi had the best achievement among Malaysian men’s doubles pairs at the BWF World Tour Finals when they reached the semi-finals in the previous edition in Thailand. -Bernama