Denied again: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are dejected after losing to China’s Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang in the men’s doubles semi-finals. — Bernama
IT’S almost deja vu for men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.
Three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics, they lost to a Chinese pair in the semi-finals and then went on to beat Indonesian “daddies” and three-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan to clinch the bronze.
At the Paris Olympics now, Aaron-Wooi Yik have again suffered a heartbreaking loss in the semi-finals, narrowly going down 19-21, 21-15, 17-21 to China’s Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang at Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle yesterday.
Now, they have to lift themselves to face another aging pair, Denmark’s world No. 2 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. Astrup is 32 while Rasmussen is 35. In Tokyo, Ahsan was 33 while Hendra was 36.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, the 2022 world champions, had hoped to create history by becoming the first Malaysian gold medallists for Malaysia after winning the country’s maiden world title in badminton but the tenacious Chinese pair proved too good.
Now, they have a chance to become two-time bronze medallists but first, they must beat Astrup-Rasmussen, who went down 21-18, 17-21, 10-21 to Taiwan’s defending champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin in another close-fought last four match.
The head-to-head record favours the younger Malaysians – Aaron is 27 while Wooi Yik is 26 – who have beaten Astrup-Rasmussen seven times in their past 11 encounters.
The Danes, however, are driven by their desire for an Olympic medal which has proven elusive although they were last year’s World Championships silver medallists.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, on the other hands, are out to hold on to their bronze.
“We have done our best but sometimes the result is not what we want,” Aaron told the Badminton World Federation (BWF) after yesterday’s defeat.
“But there’s one more to go. We have the bronze medal match.
‘‘We need to focus, fight until the end and bring back a medal. We have experienced this before and we will be more calm in our next match.”
Wooi Yik said: “Every point counts because we are fighting hard to get the upper hand in the first three shots and it’s very fast, so we need to focus.
“We could not control the match during the crucial moments and the Chinese pair were better. We hope it will go our way in our next match.”
In 2021, Aaron-Wooi Yik had to come back from a game down to stun Ahsan-Hendra 17-21, 21-17, 21-14 in the bronze medal match.
They need another big performance against the experienced Astrup-Rasmussen tomorrow to stand on the podium again.
