Chia (right) hits a shot next to Soh in their men’s doubles badminton semi-final match against China’s Liu Yuchen and Li Junhui during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo on July 30, 2021. – AFP
KUALA LUMPUR (July 30): Malaysia’s top badminton men’s doubles pair lost in straight sets to their Chinese opponents tonight in the semi-finals stage of the men’s doubles at the Tokyo Olympics.
Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik lost 24-22, 21-13 to China’s Li Jun Hui- Liu Yu Chen in 42 minutes at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza.
This is the Malaysian pair’s first Olympic games and they are the only survivors left from the Malaysian team after top singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia bowed out to defending champion Chen Long in three sets yesterday night.
Both pairs were neck and neck till the first set break with Malaysia leading 11-10. After the break it was much the same with both pairs trading points and the set had to go to a two-point tie breaker which the Chinese pair clinched 24-22.
In the second set the Chinese took the lead into the break at 11-7 then 16-9 and never looked back, closing the game 21-13.
They will now face Chinese Taipei’s world No. 3 ranked pair Wang Chi-Lin-Lee Yang who beat Indonesia’s world No. 2 pair Mohamad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan 21-11, 21-10 in 30 minutes to make their first ever finals appearance at the Olympics.
Aaron and Wooi Yik will play the Indonesians for the bronze medal at 5pm tomorrow. – MalayMail