KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 ― National men’s doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik created a shock when they ousted the world’s seventh ranking pair, Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2019 Malaysia Masters badminton championship yesterday.

At the match at the Axiata Arena, KL Sports City, the young national combination who were ranked 23rd in the world demonstrated good court control to win in straight sets 26-24, 21-15 over the fifth seeds in the championship.

Despite realising their opponents were not easy, Aaron said they came down today without any pressure but on the other hand only followed all the instructions of the coach.

"Indeed, we never though the match will be become easy because we were beaten by them at the Thomas Cup last year.

"The coach today stressed more on the way we control the court and play without pressure because we were underdogs,” he said when met by reporters after the match here yesterday.

At the same time, Wooi Yik also conceded that the support of the local supporters was among the factors which prompted them to perform excellently at the match.

Meanwhile, Aaron regarded 2019 as an important year for them in the effort to hunt for a slot to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

"I feel this is our year and it is very important for us. But until April, we only want to focus on raising our world ranking so that we can get a draw which is more in our favour later,” he said.

Aaron-Wooi Yik would be facing the Denmark pair who were also the fourth seeds in the championship, Kim Astrup-Andres Skaarup Rasmussen who easily overcame national professional doubles pair, Chooi Kah Ming-Low Juan Shen 21-13, 21-14 in another second round match.

In the meantime, the national women’s doubles challenge ended after Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen lost 9-21, 18-21 to Yulfira Barkah-Jauza Fadhila Sugiarto in the second round. ― Bernama