KUALA LUMPUR – National top men’s doubles duo Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik are the only Malaysians left standing in the All England 2024 as they smashed their way to the semi-finals in Birmingham, Friday.
The 2022 world champions put up a stellar performance by outplaying Indonesia’s Muhammad Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana 21-14, 21-11 in just 31 minutes during the quarter-finals of the world’s oldest badminton tournament in Utilita Arena Birmingham.
The victory saw the fifth seeds pair maintain their unbeaten run against Muhammad Shohibul-Bagas to 5-0.
Standing in Aaron-Wooi Yik’s way in the semi-finals are Taiwanese duo, Lee Jhe-Huei-Yang Po-Hsuan, who disposed of Supak Jomkoh-Kittinupong Kedren of Thailand, 21-13, 21-17.
Meanwhile, it was the end of the road for professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia as he was shown the exit by India’s Lakshya Sen.
Zii Jia had only himself to blame as he squandered the first set win 22-20 and faltered in the subsequent sets 16-21, 19-21 to his opponent.
The 25-year-old shuttler was not the only one sent packing as another Malaysian representative, national number one women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah were also booted out from the last eight, earlier yesterday.
Pearly-Thinaah suffered a rubber set loss to Rena Miyaura-Ayako Sakuramoto of Japan, 21-11, 18-21, 18-21. – March 16, 2024