KUALA LUMPUR: Four Malaysian pairs, including reigning men’s doubles world champions, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and national top women’s doubles pair, Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah were knocked out from the group stage of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand, today.
In the Group B match, Aaron-Wooi Yik went down fighting to fourth seeds from China, Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi 21-23, 24-22, 16-21 in a battle that lasted one hour and six minutes at the Nimibutr Arena.
The unseeded Aaron-Wooi Yik, who fell short to Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan or ‘The Daddies’ from Indonesia, 12-21, 15-21, yesterday, will meet Danish pair, Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, tomorrow.
However, professional men’s doubles duo Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi got their campaign back on track as they got past Choi Sul Gyu-Kim Won Ho of South Korea in Group A after losing 19-21, 16-21 to defending champions, Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan in the first match yesterday.
“Yesterday’s loss was a good lesson for us. We admitted we wanted to win so much (against Hoki-Kobayashi) but today we tried not to give too much pressure on ourselves and enjoyed the game. I am happy that we finally made it,” Ee Yi told BWF in the mixed zone after the match.
A tricky journey awaits Yew Sin-Ee Yi, seeded third, in their final quest to earn a last four ticket as they will be facing top seed, Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia, tomorrow.
Pearly-Thinaah, meanwhile, suffered a straight set defeat against China’s Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan, 13-21, 15-21 in Group B while Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sen were also eliminated as they went down to home pair, Benyapa Aimsaard-Nuntakarn Aimsaard, 9-21, 12-21 in Group A.
Yesterday, Pearly-Thinaah fell to Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti from Indonesia, 21-23, 15-21 while Vivian-Chiew Sen lost to Jeong Na Eun-Kim Hye Jeong of South Korea, 18-21, 13-21.
The unseeded Pearly-Thinaah will complete their group match against China’s duo, Zhang Shu Xian-Zheng Yu while Vivian-Chiew Sen will take on Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai of Thailand next.
After notching a sensational win against Olympic champions Wang Yi Lyu-Huang Dong Ping of China 23-21, 14-21, 21-16 in Group B, independent mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing failed to keep their momentum as they were humbled by Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand, 9-21, 11-21.
Kian Meng-Pei Jing could still advance to the semis should they beat another home duo, Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran in a must-win final group tie tomorrow.
Onto the Group A match, it was the end of the road for another county’s professional pair, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie after they recorded their second loss in a row, this time against French duo, Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue, 21-16, 18-21, 17-21. - Bernama