KUALA LUMPUR – National men’s doubles duo Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik entered the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open after defeating Terry Hee-Loh Kean Hean from Singapore 21-16, 21-13 at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.
World number six Aaron-Soh won in straight sets to progress to the quarterfinals where they will now face Indonesian heavyweights Hendra Setiawan-Mohammad Ahsan.
“We felt confident today going into the match, we have played them before, so we used our past knowledge.
“We were brave with our shots and hope to maintain the momentum. But it is important to not get overconfident,” they told reporters after the win.
Soh Wooi Yik had a small injury to his left knee but was unphased by it.
“I did not even realise this until now. I was too focused on the match,” he said.
Meanwhile, men’s doubles pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi toppled reigning Olympic champs Lee Yang-Wang Chi Lin from Taiwan to enter the quarterfinals tomorrow.
“The cheers from the fans definitely gave us the advantage to win today.
“We did not expect anything before the match, we just planned to play point-by-point and give it our best fight,” they said.
Their comrades Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin also entered the last eight after they were handed a walkover by eight seed Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty from India today.
Also advancing to the quarterfinals is women’s doubles pair Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing, who took down world number three pair Lee So Hee-Shin Seung Chan from South Korea, winning the match 18-21, 21-12, 21-15.
The biggest disappointment of the day was the exit of home crowd favourite Lee Zii Jia, who lost at the hands of Indonesian shuttler Shesar Hiren Rhustavito 21-19, 19-21, 21-16.
National top women’s duo Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan also ended their campaign after losing to China’s Zhang Shu Xian-Zheng Yu 21-19, 21-14.
Low Yeen Yuan-Valeree Siow also lost to top seed Chinese duo Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan 21-12, 21-9, while both mixed doubles pairings of Goh Soon Huat-Lai Shevon Jemie and Chen Tang Jie-Valeree Siow also exited the tournament today in the second round.
Men’s doubles Tan Kian Meng-Tan Wee Kiong lost the final match of the night to Chinese pair Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi 21-18, 17-21, 21-14. – The Vibes, June 30, 2022.
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