KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — Three national pairs — Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (men’s doubles), Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (women’s doubles) and Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (mixed doubles) — stormed into the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Badminton Championships at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark today.
Reigning men’s doubles champions Aaron-Wooi Yik, who trailed for a large part of the opening game in their third-round clash against Olympic champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan, fought back to prevail 21-16, 21-18 and seal their last-eight berth.
Sixth seeds Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi await the fourth-seeded Aaron-Wooi Yik in the last eight after the China pair disposed of Taiwan’s Lu Ching Yao-Yang Po Han 24-22, 21-16 in their third-round match.
However, it was the end of the road for professional duo Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi after they lost 15-21, 10-21 to home pair Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen.
Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun also faced the same fate after going down fighting 16-21, 21-14, 17-21 to third seeds Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang of China.
There was joy for Malaysia in women’s doubles when the top pair of Pearly-Thinaah delivered a sublime performance to stun fourth seeds Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara of Japan 21-14, 22-20 to check into the quarter-finals.
In the last eight, the 10th-seeded Malaysians will take on China’s sixth-seeded Zheng Su Xian-Zheng Yu, who scored an easy 21-13, 21-10 win over Dutch duo Kirsten de Wit-Alyssa Tirtosentono in their third-round tie.
Meanwhile, national mixed doubles duo and 14th-seeded Tang Jie-Ee Wei bounced back from a game down to earn their quarter-final ticket as they overcame French seventh seeds Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue 20-22, 21-19, 21-12.
Tang Jie-Ee Wei will meet second seeds Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino after the Japanese pair downed Indonesia’s Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto-Lisa Ayu Kusumawati 21-14, 21-17.
There was no such luck, however, for the independent pair of Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie after they were shown the exit by China’s Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin, who prevailed 21-16, 21-18. — Bernama