Down and out: Ong Yew Sin (left) and Teo Ee Yi in action against Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi during the quarter-final match at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil. — S.S. KANESAN/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Even a short lapse of concentration can make a difference between victory and defeat. Just ask men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.Aaron-Wooi Yik were playing well and leading 10-8 in the third game against South Korea’s reigning world champions Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae in a pulsating quarter-final match in the Malaysian Open when a loss of focus tipped the match in the latter’s favour.
Min-hyuk-Seung-jae pounced to overtake at 11-10 and did not look back to win 16-21, 21-18, 21-13 at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil yesterday. They will play India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty in the last four.
An upset Aaron admitted that he and Wooi Yik should have kept their focus after taking the lead.
“We started well but we became overexcited,” lamented Aaron.
“We wanted to win too badly and we lost focus a bit of our strategy.
Wooi Yik said: “Our opponents became more confident after overtaking us in the third game.
“The rallies after we took the lead were crucial but we could not do well that time.”
Meanwhile, it is back to the drawing board for Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi after going down in the quarter-finals.
A day after toppling Denmark’s world No. 5 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, Yew Sin-Ee Yi struggled against Japan’s 2021 world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi and lost 15-21, 9-21 in just 34 minutes.
The world No. 12 independent pair found it hard to break through the Japanese duo’s defence and could not contain the latter’s stinging attacks.
Yew Sin admitted that the pair’s strategy did not work against Hoki-Kobayashi.
“Our strategy worked in our first two matches but not this time,” said Yew Sin.
“We started well but our opponents managed to read our game and did not give us many opportunities to attack. We tried to do well during the first three shots but they were better than us.
“Our defence also did not work. They got more confident as the match progressed and we made some unforced errors,” added Yew Sin.
Although disappointed with the outcome of the match, Yew Sin-Ee Yi are determined the take the positives from the defeat.
“We are disappointed but I will say that overall, this is a reasonably good start to the year for us,” said Ee Yi.
With the total wipeout, Malaysia’s wait to see a home winner continues.
The last doubles winners were Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah in 2014 while Datuk Lee Chong Wei was the last singles player to win in 2018.
