Malaysian pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are All-England runners-up

PETALING JAYA: It was not meant to be for Malaysian pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.

In a pulsating final, the Malaysians won the first set 21-11, before the Indonesian pair of Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan pulled one set back with a 21-14 win.

In the decider, the Indonesians relied on their experience to overcome the fighting young Malaysian pair to take the set 21-12.

The pair got off to a nervy start in the first set, trailing Indonesia's two-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan 1-4, but they swiftly settled down and won the next four points to make it 5-4.

Hendra, who was nursing a calf injury sustained from Saturday's (March 9) semi-finals match, looked far from his best, and the Malaysians cruised to 11-6 at the interval before taking the first game 21-11.

However, Ahsan-Setiawan reminded badminton fans why they were once the top-ranked pair in the world, when they bounced back to win the second game 21-14 to ensure that the thrilling battle went down to the wire.

Aaron-Wooi Yik opened their campaign with a come-from-behind 12-21, 21-16, 21-16 victory over Taiwan's Lu Ching-yao-Yang Po-han and then marched further by claiming their third straight win over Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark, beating the fifth seeds 21-19, 21-16.

They continued their scintillating run by making 2017 world champions Liu Cheng-Zhang Nan of China their next casualties by triumphing 21-19, 17-21, 21-12.

In Saturday's (March 9) semi-finals, Aaron-Wooi Yik clawed back from a game down to overcome Indonesia's Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto, the Asian Games silver medallists 12-21, 22-20, 21-19 to advance into the title decider.

If the pair had won, they would have become the ninth different pair from Malaysia to emerge as men's doubles winners since the tournament's inception in 1898.

Others Malaysian pairs who have won the prestigious title are Ooi Teik Hock-Teoh Seng Khoon (1949), David Choong-Eddy Choong (1951-1953), Ooi Teik Hock-Ong Poh Lim (1954), Lim Say Hup-Teh Kew San (1959), Ng Boon Bee-Tan Yee Khan (1965-1966), Boon Bee-Punch Gunalan (1971) and Razif Sidek-Jalani Sidek (1982) and Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (2007).