PETALING JAYA: Unforced errors cost shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik dearly as they suffered a disappointing defeat at the hands Japan’s world No. 22 Hiroki Midorikawa-Kyohei Yamashita in the Indian Open men’s doubles semi-finals yesterday.
World No. 2 Aaron-Wooi Yik were hoping to make it into back-to-back finals after finishing runners-up in the Malaysian Open last week but could not raise their game and went down 21-10, 13-21, 21-11 in 44 minutes at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi yesterday.
A despondent Aaron said that the duo made too many unforced errors in the third game which led to their defeat.
“After the second game, we were still trying to get back our rhythm but we made too many unforced errors in the decider,” lamented Aaron in a post match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“Our confidence on court was good but our mistakes caused the discrepancy in the scores and ultimately led to our defeat.”
Wooi Yik said: “We were mostly defending as the shuttle was slow and we found it harder to play aggressively.
It was Aaron-Wooi Yik’s first defeat to the Japanese combo after beating them in their sole meeting previously in the Thailand Open last year.
The 2022 world champions missed the opportunity to reach their second final in the tournament after finishing second to China’s Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang in the 2023 edition.
Their exit meant that Malaysia’s challenge in the competition has ended.
Aaron-Wooi Yik will next compete in the Indonesian Masters which starts on Tuesday in Jakarta.
