KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — The national men’s doubles, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik want to continue their excellent rhythm at the 2019 Malaysian Open badminton championship on April 2 to 7 at the Arena Axiata, Kuala Lumpur Sports City (KLSC), in Bukit Jalil.
Conceding that the success of advancing to the final of the All England championship recently was a stepping stone, but the national combination realised they could not be complacent because the opponents waiting at the Malaysian Open were no pushovers.
‘’The draw was rather difficult because we will be meeting the Japanese pair, Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe in the second round. The route will also be a circuitous one too if we advance to the quarter finals.
‘’If possible, I target to advance at least to the semi-finals of the 2019 Malaysian Open but definitely we harbour an ambition to clinch the championship,’’ said Aaron in a media statement today.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, who were met, after undergoing training at the Malaysian Badminton Academy in Bukit Kiara, hoped their level of confidence would be more consistent when on court, what more, performing in front of the home crowd.
In the first round, the pair who were currently ranked 15th in the world, was scheduled to face the Marcus Ellis-Chris Langridge combination from England.
If they succeeded in getting past the first round, Aaron-Wooi Yik would square off against Endo-Watanabe, who were the fourth seed of the championship and were also also the Malaysian Open runner-up last year, or another Japanese pair, Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi.
The other players who would be shouldering the national challenge in the Malaysian Open this time were men’s singles Lee Zii Jia, Goh Jin Wei and Soniia Cheah (women’s singles), Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (men’s doubles), Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean, Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen (women’s doubles), Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai, Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (mixed doubles).
Meanwhile, the national professional players who would also be taking part were Liew Daren (men’s singles), Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong and Arif Latif-Azriyn Ayub (men’s doubles), and Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying (mixed doubles).
The 2019 Malaysian Open offered an overall cash prize of US$700,000 (RM2.8 millio). — Bernama
