PETALING JAYA: Same result, but a different feeling.
That was the situation for men’s doubles pairs Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King and Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, who both bowed out of the World Championships in Paris on Thursday.
Although Arif-Roy King fell in the third round, they could still take pride in nearly pulling off a huge upset against their seniors Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik with their sharp and speedy display.
Second seeds Aaron-Wooi Yik relied on their composure and experience to dash the younger pair’s hopes, handing Arif-Roy King a 21-18, 18-21, 26-24 defeat.
While many praised the spirited effort of Arif-Roy King, the pair, especially Arif, felt they had let slip a golden chance to reach the quarter-finals after leading Aaron-Wooi Yik deep into the decider.
“I’m not very proud of my performance today as I played badly, but not my partner (Roy King), who did really well. I made too many unforced errors that should not have happened. Hopefully I can learn from this experience.
“We are very disappointed. We had a chance to win, but failed to close out the match. At the crucial stage, it was a 50-50 situation that depended on luck and the rallies,” said Arif.
It was a different story for Sze Fei-Izzuddin.
They were on the brink of victory in the deciding game against Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan when they led 20-17, but could not finish it off.
That allowed the Taiwanese pair to storm back and snatch a quarter-final berth with a 20-22, 21-15, 23-21 victory.
It was a bitter defeat for Sze Fei-Izzuddin, who came into the tournament as the world No. 3 pair with high hopes of improving on their showing three years ago in Tokyo, where they had also fallen in the third round.
“They played better than us. We tried our best, and this is the outcome,” said a dejected Sze Fei after the match.
