KUALA LUMPUR – National men’s top doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were eliminated from the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals after losing all their group games in Hangzhou, China, today.
They lost all three matches in Group A at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium to take the last place in the table.
In the battle today, Aaron-Wooi Yik attempted to salvage some pride in this outing but failed to defeat world number one pair Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang of China before losing 21-18, 14-21, 12-21 in an hour.
The victory of the host pair enabled them to take the second spot in the group and accompany their compatriots, Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi, to the semi-finals.
Earlier, Liu-Ou crushed Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi 21-12, 21-17 who were placed third in the group.
The latest disappointment of Aaron-Wooi Yik, who were 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medalists, continued as they could not advance to the semi-finals in four BWF World Tour Finals after the editions in 2022, 2020, and 2019 since it was introduced in 2018.
Malaysia’s best achievement was entering the men’s doubles semi-finals by Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi in the last edition in Thailand.
Despite the poor outing at the World Tour Finals, Aaron-Wooi Yik, who are ranked third in the world, captured the bronze medal in the Hangzhou Asian Games 2022 (October) and 2023 World Championship, as well as the Denmark Open title in the same month. – December 15, 2023