Aaron-Wooi Yik reach men's doubles quarter-finals to keep Olympics dream alive

Soh Wooi Yik (front) and Aaron Chia defeat Canada's Jason Ho-Shue-Nyl Yakura in the final group match. - REUTERS.

PETALING JAYA: World No. 9 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik have given the national badminton team a much-needed boost by checking into the men's doubles quarter-finals in the Tokyo Olympics.

They faced little trouble in beating Canada's Jason Ho-Shue-Nyl Yakura 21-15, 21-12 on Tuesday to finish second in Group D. They joined group champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia into the knockout round.

Earlier in the day, Ahsan-Hendra had done them a big favour by defeating South Korea's Seo Seung-jae-Choi Solgyu 21-12, 19-21, 21-18.

A straight-game win for the Koreans could have triggered a countback as the rule states that ranking will be established based on points difference, should all three pairs finish with the same match wins and games difference.

Aaron-Wooi Yik will learn who they play later in the last eight after a fresh draw is conducted.

Except for Ahsan-Hendra, they can meet any one of these three group champions - world No. 1 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo-Marcus Fernaldi Gideon of Indonesia from Group A; Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe of Japan (Group B); and China's Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen (Group C).