Cool doubles pairs eyes double gold now

Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in action.

NATIONAL No. 1 badminton doubles pairs Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah kept their cool to propel their team to gold in the mixed team event.

Now, both pairs will be banking on their steady approach to bring more glory in the individual events which kicked off yesterday.

In the mixed team final at the National Exhibition Centre, world No. 6 Aaron-Wooi Yik were under great pressure in the opening match against India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty who are ranked just one rung below them.

It was billed as the match that could swing the tie and Satwiksairaj-Chirag had already broken Malaysian hearts once in the Thomas Cup quarter-finals in May.

But Aaron-Wooi Yik were in superb form as they put the Indians to the sword to come away with a 21-18, 21-15 victory.

The Malaysians have never lost to the Indian pair and extended their winning run to five matches.

“I think we played quite well today and we hope to maintain our form in the individual event,” said Aaron.

Coach Rexy Mainaky was also full of praise for his charges.

“Aaron and Wooi Yik were very calm and composed throughout the match,” said the Indonesian.

The Malaysians could face another tussle for gold with Satwiksairaj-Chirag in the individuals if both justify their respective seedings and reach the final.

Meanwhile, Pearly-Thinaah who took to the courts in the fourth match with Malaysia leading 2-1, displayed great maturity and discipline to stave off any fightback by the Indians.

They fought hard to beat youngsters Tressa Jolly-Gayathri Gopichand 21-18, 21-17 to deliver Malaysia’s winning point.

It was the Malaysian pair’s second victory over Tressa-Gayathri after also overcoming them in the Malaysian Masters last month.

The momentum had swung in Malaysia’s favour by that time after men’s singles player Ng Tze Yong had stunned India’s world No. 13 K. Srikanth.

Thinaah admitted that Tze Yong’s unexpected win had given her and Pearly a huge lift to finish the job off.

“We were all under pressure but Tze Yong did really well in his match and showed us that nothing is impossible. We feel really happy to win,” said a jubilant Thinaah.

Buoyed by the win, Pearly-Thinaah are looking to justify their status as top seeds and capture their second gold in their debut Games in the individual event.