KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 ― National men's doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik continued their fiery form by stunning world champions Muhammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia today to book their place in the last four of the China Open Badminton Tournament in Fuzhou, China.
The unseeded pair, who ousted another top Indonesian pair, world number five Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the second round yesterday, won 21-13, 22-20 against the second seeded pair in the quarter-finals match held at Haixia Sports Olympic Center, according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website.
The victory is certainly a major boost for Chia and Soh heading into the 2019 Philippines SEA Games at the end of this month, considering it is their first victory against the veteran pair.
National mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai are also through to the semi-finals after pulling off a 21-13, 21-18 win over world number five Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in another quarter-finals match.
Malaysian professional mixed doubles pair, sixth seeded Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying, on the other hand, lost to world number two pair Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping of China 21-18, 13-21, 22-24.
The country's challenge in women's doubles fizzled out after Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean lost 15-21, 14-21 to world number one pair Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota of Japan. ― Bernama
