PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (pic) kept alive their hopes of qualifying for the World Tour Finals from Dec 11-15 in Hangzhou by reaching the quarter-finals of the China Masters.
Ninth placed Aaron-Wooi Yik need to break into the top eight in the Race to Hangzhou rankings and stayed cool to beat fellow Malaysians Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub 21-13, 21-19 at the Shenzhen Gymnasium yesterday to remain in contention.
Standing in their way next are world No. 6 home pair He jiting-Ren Xiangyu, who defeated young Malaysian duo Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi 21-10, 21-19.
Aaron-Wooi Yik have an opportunity to overtake seventh placed teammates Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun in the Race to Hangzhou rankings after the latter suffered a 21-19, 19-21, 17-21 defeat at the hands of Denmark’s Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard in the first round.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun were disappointed with their performance.
“We are upset because we fought hard this whole year and this tournament was our last chance to qualify for the Finals,” lamented Wei Chong.
“We didn’t play well in this match. We are still not consistent and have a lot to improve.”
Wei Chong-Kai Wun’s loss could be Aaron-Wooi Yik’s gain but the latter need to raise their game to beat the dangerous Jiting-Xiangyu.
Based on the head-to-head records, both pairs are evenly matched after beating each other once in their past two meetings.
Meanwhile, Aaron-Wooi Yik will also be hoping for a favour from another Malaysian duo, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani when the latter take on Indonesia’s Sabar Gutama-Moh Reza in the last eight today.
Sabar-Moh Reza, who are just ahead of Aaron-Wooi Yik in eighth spot in the race to make the cut for the Finals stunned world No. 1 homesters Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang 21-10, 21-16.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin, who have already assured themselves a spot in the Finals, defeated Taiwan’s Wang Chi-lin-Chiu Hsiang-chieh 21-18, 21-16 to set up a meeting against the Indonesians.
Aaron-Wooi Yik now need to beat Jiting-Xiangyu and also hope that Sze Fei-Izzuddin end Sabar-Moh Reza’s run to boost their chance of qualifying for the Finals.
Meanwhile, women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah also made it into the quarter-finals with a hard-fought 21-18, 18-21, 21-13 win over Japan’s Arisa Igarashi-Ayako Sakuramoto.
Pearly-Thinaah though have a tough task next against world No. 1 and home favourites Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning.
Results
Malaysians only
Second round
Men’s doubles: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik bt Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Azriyn Ayub 21-13, 21-19; Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani bt Wang Chi-lin-Chiu Hsiang-chieh (Tpe) 21-18, 21-16; He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu (Chn) bt Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi 21-10, 21-19.
Women’s doubles: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah bt Arisa Igarashi-Ayako Sakuramoto (Jpn) 21-18, 18-21, 21-13.
Mixed doubles: Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin bt Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) 16-21, 21-14, 21-19; Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei bt Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (Fra) 14-21, 23-21, 21-8; Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet (Hkg) bt Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien 17-21, 21-15, 21-9.
First round
Men’s doubles: Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard (Den) bt Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun 19-21, 21-19, 21-17.
