PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were made to slog before booking their spot in the second round of the Korean Masters.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, who are the top seeds in the World Tour Super 300 tourney, were not expected to face much trouble against Taiwanese scratch pairing Chiang Chien-wei-Wei Chun-yi but had to face some anxious moments before coming from behind to win 12-21, 21-18, 21-17 in 48 minutes in Iksan yesterday.
The hard fought victory showed that the world No. 6 cannot afford to take any opponent lightly despite their status as the top seeds in the lower tier competition.
Aaron-Wooi Yik will face the winner of the match between South Korean qualifiers Ko Sung-hyun-Shin Baek-cheol and Taiwan’s Wu Hsuan-yi-Ye Hong-wei in the second round tomorrow.
The 2022 world champions are hoping to do well in the tournament to keep alive their slim hopes of qualifying for the prestigious World Tour Finals from Dec 11-15 in Hangzhou.
Aaron-Wooi Yik currently lie 13th in the Race to Hangzhou rankings and need to overtake teammates and seventh placed Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun to make the cut.
The pair are out to turn around their form after struggling to find their feet since winning bronze in the Paris Olympics in August.
Aaron-Wooi Yik lost in the second round of the Arctic Open and made it only as far as the quarter-finals in the Denmark Open last month.
Meanwhile, teammates Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hon Jian’s disappointing form lately continued when they suffered a shock 11-21, 21-10, 17-21 defeat at the hands of another Taiwanese scratch combination Lu Chen-Po Li-wei.
It was world No. 19 Haikal-Hon Jian’s fourth consecutive early round exit after the Opens in Japan, Korea and China.
The pair, who were making their competitive return after missing the Arctic and Denmark tourneys due to a hip injury to Hon Jian, last made it past the early rounds in the Australian Open in June where they reached the last four.
Haikal-Hon Jian will be hoping to rediscover their best form when they compete in the Japan Masters next week.
