Malaysia men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
PETALING JAYA: World No. 2 men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik marched into the China Open quarter-finals after a convincing win over French brothers Christo and Toma Junior Popov on Thursday (July 24).
Aaron-Wooi Yik produced a composed performance to seal a 21-17, 21-18 victory in just 35 minutes in the second round at the Changzhou Olympic Sports Centre.
The win is a boost for the national camp as Aaron-Wooi Yik will face the winners of the all-Malaysian match between Nur Azriyn Ayub-Tan Wee Kiong and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun in the last eight.
With that, Malaysia will have at least one representative in the semi-finals.
Another men’s pair, Teo Ee Yi-Ong Yew Sin, also kept up their fine momentum by defeating Thailand’s Kittinupong Kedren-Dechapol Puavaranukroh 21-16, 21-16 to reach the quarter-finals.
They are set to face India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty on Friday.
Meanwhile, mixed doubles pair Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien put up a spirited fight against top seeds Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping of China but fell short, going down 11-21, 26-24, 9-21.
