Fired up: Soh Wooi Yik (left) and Aaron Chia celebrate after reaching their first World Championships semi-finals in Tokyo. - Pix by Badminton Photo
PETALING JAYA: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik have assured at least a medal after storming into the men's doubles semi-finals of the World Championships in Tokyo on Friday (Aug 26).
The national No. 1 pair secured a superb 21-18, 21-16 victory over South Korea's world No. 11 Choi Sol-gyu-Seo-Seung-jae in 40 minutes at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium to reach their first semi-finals at the world meet.
"We managed to play calmly and focused on ourselves and I believe, those were the keys to our win today," said Wooi Yik.
"All our shots were of high quality and we managed to put pressure on the Korean pair."
The world No. 6 will take on India's world No. 7 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty on Saturday for a place in the final.
The Indians had toppled home favourites and defending champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi 24-22, 15-21, 21-14 in their quarter-final match.
The Malaysians have won all their five past meetings against the Indians, with their recent win at the mixed team final at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Last year in Spain, Malaysia won a bronze medal after Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi reached the semi-finals but they failed to go beyond. Malaysia last made it to the final through Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong at the 2010 edition in Paris.
