PETALING JAYA: It was a glorious day for Malaysian doubles at the Denmark Open when three out of four made it to the semi-finals at the Jyske Bank Arena in Odense.
Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (men’s doubles), Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (women’s doubles) and Hoo Pang Ron-Lai Pei Jing (mixed doubles) won their respective quarter-final matches but Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani faltered.
Former world champions Aaron-Wooi Yik started the ball rolling when they proved they are still a force to be reckoned with by knocking out Japan’s Hiroki Okamura-Kyohei Yamashita 21-16, 21-18 to set up an intriguing showdown against top seeds and world No. 1 Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae of South Korea.
“We are back playing together after a few months and it is good for us to come back and reach the semis,” said Aaron.
Aaron-Wooi Yik have faced Won-ho-Seung-jae five times, winning twice.
In their last encounter, the Malaysians raised their game to beat the Koreans in the semi-finals of this year’s World Championships in India before going down to China’s Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang in the final.
The world meet was also the last tournament Aaron-Wooi Yik played together before being split up and paired with different partners. Now reunited, can the Malaysians rise to the occasion once again and get the better of the formidable Koreans?
Aaron and Wooi Yik know however, it will be tough against the Koreans, who underlined their prowess by brushing aside Japanese pair, Kakeru Kumagai-Hiroki Nishi, 21-5, 21-17 in another quarter-final match.
Second seeds Pearly-Thinaah also brought joy when they became the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair in 18 years to reach the semi-finals after beating India’s Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand 14-21, 21-17, 21-11 in the quarter-finals.
The last pair to achieve this feat was Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty, where they went on to win the title in 2008. Pearly-Thinaah will face China’s Bao Lijing-Cao Zihan next.
Professionals Pang Ron-Pei Jing also brought cheers by downing world No. 18 Akira Koga-Natsu Saito of Japan 21-15, 24-22 in a 44-minute quarter-final match.
The world No. 51 pair are riding high on confidence after stunning world No. 5 Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand in the second round a day earlier.
A tough semi-final though awaits the Malaysians as they will play top seeds Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping of China, but their impressive run in Odense should give them a welcome boost in the world rankings.
However, Sze Fei-Izzuddin could not add to the celebrations, as they failed to break their jinx against second seeds Weikeng-Wang Chang, losing 21-18, 18-21, 15-21 in the quarter-finals.
Earlier, mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Chan Wen Tse went down 23-21, 18-21, 20-22 in the second round to sixth seeds Guo Xinwa-Chen Fanghui of China.
Pros Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie also bowed out in the second round, losing 7-21, 18-21 to third seeds Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Boje of Denmark.
