Aaron-Wooi Yik and Tang Jie-Ee Wei can’t afford slip-ups in opening matches

On their toes: Mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei need to tread with caution in their first match against Singapore’s husband-and-wife pair Terry Hee-Jessica Tan.

PETALING JAYA: Doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei have been handed tricky starts in the Paris Olympics.

The badminton competition kicks off this Saturday at the Adidas Arena in Porte de la Chapelle and the two pairs will need to be on their toes from the start.

According to the schedule, world No. 4 Aaron-Wooi Yik will take on England’s world No. 18 Ben Lane-Sean Vendy in their opening men’s doubles Group A match.

With China’s world No. 1 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang and Canada’s world No. 32 Adam Dong-Nyl Yakura also in the same group, Aaron-Wooi Yik need to win to get into a good position to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Only the top two pairs in the group will make it to the last eight.

Based on head-to-head records, Aaron-Wooi Yik are the favourites over Lane-Vendy after winning four out of their past five meetings but the Malaysians need to stay alert after suffering a shock defeat to the English pair in their last encounter in the semi-finals of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

A win this time will almost guarantee Aaron-Wooi Yik a spot in the quarter-finals as they play the Canadians, who are the weakest pair in the group next before a mouth-watering showdown against Weikeng-Wang Chang to possibly determine which pair finish top of the group.

Meanwhile, world No. 9 mixed doubles pair Tang Jie-Ee Wei also need to tread with caution in their first match against Singapore’s husband-and-wife pair Terry Hee-Jessica Tan in Group D.

The pairs have only met once before in the Swiss Open in March where Tang Jie-Ee Wei had to fight hard to beat world No. 17 Terry-Jessica 21-12, 19-21, 21-15.

Tang Jie-Ee Wei need to win to enhance their chances of making it to the last eight as China’s world No. 2 Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping and the United States’ world No. 30 Vinson Chiu-Jennie Gai are the other two pairs in the group.

Dongping captured gold in the 2021 Tokyo Games with previous partner Wang Yilyu and is one of the favourites again with Yanzhe in this edition.

Tang Jie-Ee Wei will meet the American pair in their second match before taking on Yanzhe-Dongping.

In the women’s doubles, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah face a tough task against China’s world No. 1 and 2021 silver medallists Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan in their opening Group A match.

The world No. 13 have only beaten Qingchen-Yifan once in their past seven encounters with their sole victory coming in the second round of the All-England in Birmingham in March.

Pearly-Thinaah will take on Japan’s former two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara next before completing the group stage against Indonesia’s world No. 9 Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti.