PETALING JAYA: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik will need to be wary when they face South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk-Ki Dong-ju in the quarter-finals of the Asian Championships today.
Although it will be their first meeting, the world No. 22 pair come in with momentum after upsetting Aaron-Wooi Yik’s regular rivals Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi 21-18, 18-21, 21-11 in the second round yesterday.
While that result may come as some relief for Aaron-Wooi Yik, who have often struggled against the Japanese duo, Min-hyuk-Dong-ju have shown they are capable of pulling off big wins.
Aaron-Wooi Yik themselves were taken to the wire by home pair Hu Keyuan-Lin Xiangyi before edging through 22-20, 21-19 in the second round.
Also through to the quarter-finals are world No. 2 women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah.
The duo now have a chance to end Malaysia’s 16-year medal drought in the women’s doubles, dating back to Woon Khe Wei-Vivian Hoo’s silver medal at the 2010 edition in New Delhi.
National doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky has urged them to raise their game ahead of today’s quarter-final after they were pushed hard by Taiwan’s Hsu Yin-hui-Lin Jhih-yun before prevailing 21-19, 19-21, 24-22.
“Today (yesterday), Pearly was a bit slow. Her strokes were quite simple and plain. On the other side, the Taiwanese pair played with nothing to lose, so things did not really work for Pearly-Thinaah.
“Pearly’s performance was below par, around 60 per cent on court, and both her movement and defence were not solid,” said Rexy when contacted.
They will face either Japan’s Rui Hirokami-Sayaka Hobara or eighth seeds Li Yijing-Luo Xumin in the last eight.
Meanwhile, young pair Carmen Ting-Ong Xin Yee saw their campaign come to an end after losing to world No. 7 duo Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi of Japan.
Carmen-Xin Yee went down 18-21, 14-21 in 52 minutes, marking their third defeat to the Japanese pair.
