Semis target for Aaron-Wooi to beat China former world champ Li-Liu for first time

China's Li Junhui (right) hits a shot while Liu Yuchen looks on in men's doubles quarter-finals match against Denmark's Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo. - AFP

PETALING JAYA: Can Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik end another losing streak - this time against Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen of China?

The high-flying Malaysians will take on 2018 world champions Junhui-Yuchen in the Olympics men's doubles semi-finals on Friday at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo.

While the Malaysians gave a solid show to beat world No. 1 Kevin Sanjaya-Marcus Fernaldi of Indonesia for the first time in eight attempts on Thursday, the third seeds Chinese pair had to battle hard to reach the semi-finals.

The lanky pair had to dig deep to pull off a 12-21, 21-14, 21-19 win over Denmark's Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen in another quarter-final match.

The Chinese pair have a better record against the Malaysians, having won all their five previous meetings against Aaron-Wooi Yik.

Junhui-Yuchen are pumped for the semi-finals as they have been tasked to defend the gold medal won by compatriots Zhang Nan-Fu Haifeng in 2016 Rio Olympics.

Zhang Nan-Hai Feng were crowned the champions after defeating Malaysia's Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong in the final.

The semi-finals will start from 2.30pm onwards on Friday (the order of play will be finalised later).