KUALA LUMPUR – Recently-crowned Malaysia Masters champion Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto hope their Malaysian contenders Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik would not give in after their defeat at the tournament semifinals on Saturday.
Sixth-ranked Aaron-Wooi Yik may have defeated them three times in the past – round two of 2019 Malaysia Masters, 2019 All England semi-finals, and 2019 China Open quarter-finals – but Fajar-Rian wasted no time to tie the score.
After almost three years of not meeting head-to-head, the fifth-ranked Indonesians steadily upped their game, saying they studied every move of their opponents at every match till they could finally beat the Malaysian top pair three consecutive times.
They defeated Aaron-Wooi Yik in all semi-final stages which began at the 2022 Swiss Open, followed by the 2022 Thailand Open, and the recently concluded Malaysia Masters.
Speaking to reporters after celebrating their Malaysia Masters win yesterday, Fajar admitted that Aaron-Wooi Yik have not been easy to beat.
“Aaron-Wooi Yik have been outstanding opponents because we lost to them three times in the past.
“Of course, we were worried about going up against them because they were the (bronze) Olympic medallists (2020).
“But we refused to give up and just kept going match by match,” shared Fajar. Despite their rivalry, Fajar also hoped that Aaron-Wooi Yik would not yield and wished them to do better.
“We wish them well in the future. I hope they will do better.
“We also do not want them to give up. So, they need to keep participating in more matches and win more tournaments,” he added.
Fajar followed up the statement with a joke, “as long as they don’t win against us”. – The Vibes, July 10, 2022
