KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — Rising national men’s doubles pair Wan Muhammad Arif Shaharuddin Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King upset fourth seeds Lee Jhe Huei-Yang Po Hsuan of Taiwan today to reach the quarter-finals of the 2024 Malaysia Masters.
Buoyed by their quarter-final outing at the Thai Open last week and strong crowd support, the world number 47 came back from a 13-21 loss in the first game to beat the world number 12 pair 21-15, 21-18 in the next two games at Axiata Arena here.
In their attempt for a semi-final slot, Wan Muhammad Arif-Roy King will challenge sixth seeds Rasmus Kjaer-Frederick Sogaard of Denmark, who beat South Koreans Kim Gi Jung-Kim Sa Rang 21-16, 21-18, tomorrow.
Speaking to reporters after the match, Wan Muhammad Arif said despite losing the first game, they stayed determined and patient to turn the table on their opponents.
“We remained patient and handled the mental pressure well until the end of the match. We are not thinking too much about tomorrow’s match and will just go out and play.
“Our experience of playing India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (losing 7-21, 14-21 in the Thai Open) greatly helped us to improve our standard,” he said.
Roy King said winning against higher-ranked players boosted their confidence to further challenge top shuttlers to achieve their top 32 target.
“When our rankings improve, we can play in higher tier tournaments and meet top players more often. We can identify our weaknesses and rectify them,” he added.
Meanwhile, the country’s top men’s doubles pair of Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik overcame a shaky performance in the second game to beat China’s world number 25 Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi 21-13, 13-21, 21-10.
Awaiting the world number four in the quarter-finals are world number 34 Jin Yong-Na Sung Seung of South Korea, who shocked eighth seeds Lu Ching Yao-Yang Po Han of Taiwan 21-16, 21-9.
Aaron said: “We felt slightly lost in the second game and committed many unforced errors but found our way back in the third game. Tomorrow, we will play another pair we have not met before and will see how it goes.”
Wooi Yik said they roughly know the Korean doubles style of defence and counter-attacks.
Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Mohd Rumsani checked into their first Super 500 tournament quarter-finals since the Hong Kong Open last November after downing Thailand’s Peeratchai Sukphun-Pakkapon Teeratsakul 21-17, 21-12.
They will clash with Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. — Bernama
