KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — ‘Terrible’ was the first word national men’s doubles player Aaron Chia muttered after he and partner Soh Wooi Yik lost 9-21, 16-21 to Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi in the second round of the 2019 Malaysian Open Badminton Championships at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil today.

"Terrible. We didn’t play well at all, lacked confidence and our combination was not working either,” said Aaron, who also attributed their loss to mental weakness and inconsistency.

Much was expected of them, especially since they stunned everyone to emerge as runners-up at the recent All-England.

There was only doom and gloom for Malaysia in men’s doubles when their second pair, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi also lost 17-21, 19-21 to seventh seeds Han Chengkai-Zhou Haodong of China.

Ee Yi was clueless when asked to explain the loss, saying: "We have confidence, we have raised our performance. We do not know what else to improve on.”

Malaysia will have only two pairs in action tomorrow, with Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying taking on second seeds Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing facing Indonesians Tontowi Ahmad-Winny Oktavina Kandow in the mixed doubles quarter-finals. — Bernama