PETALING JAYA: Wan Arif Wan Junaidi was relieved to finally taste victory again after reuniting with Yap Roy King at the World Championships in New Delhi.
Arif-Roy King, who were reunited after spending almost a month with different partners, defeated Vietnam’s Nguyen Dinh Hoang-Tran Dinh Manh 21-9, 21-13 in just 23 minutes in their opening match at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
They will face Indonesian world No. 12 pair Nikolaus Joaquin-Raymond Indra in the second round tomorrow.
The win came as a much-needed boost for Arif, who had suffered three consecutive first-round defeats with Kang Khai Xing at the China Open, Taiwan Open and Korean Masters.
Even Arif-Roy King’s last tournament together at the Japan Open last month ended with an early exit.
Arif admitted he was excited to be back alongside Roy King.
“I was excited to play in our second World Championships together. The last time we played was in Paris, so I was excited to be back with him again,” said Arif in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“Before this, we were playing with different partners and focusing on our individual combinations. Hopefully, we can play better in the next match than we did today.”
Roy King admitted the windy conditions inside the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium were a concern.
“We are still trying to find our rhythm and learn how to control the shuttle in these conditions because the drift is quite strong. We’ll have another training session and discuss with the coach how best to handle it,” said Roy King.
