KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Malaysia’s men’s doubles pair, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, clinched their maiden Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) title tonight after defeating China’s Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi.
Although Chen-Liu had edged out the Malaysians in their most recent encounter at the Denmark Open, the overall head-to-head still favoured Chia-Soh, who led with two wins out of three meetings before this.
The final proved to be a thrilling contest. Both pairs played at a blistering pace, keeping the scores tight until Chia-Soh took a slender lead into the mid-game interval.
A flurry of attacking plays kept the crowd entertained, and the pressure appeared to get to Chen-Liu, who made a string of errors that handed the Malaysians the first game.
In the second set, Chia-Soh fell behind early due to unforced errors, allowing their opponents to lead 12-8.
But the world No. 6 pair regrouped, levelling the score at 14-14 and eventually surging ahead to seal the win at 21-19, 21-17.
This marks Chia and Soh’s first-ever BAC title, having previously finished runners-up in 2022 after losing to Indonesian pair PK Riyanto and Y. Rambitan in the final.