KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik secured a hard-fought victory in their opening match at the 2024 World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, China, defeating China’s He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu 17-21, 21-18, 21-15.
Despite a shaky start, losing the first game, the Malaysian duo rallied in the next two to clinch the win.
However, Aaron and Wooi Yik were quick to point out that their victory came with an asterisk as their opponents were forced to continue with an injury to Ren Xiangyu.
“Our performance wasn’t really on form. We were lucky that Ren was injured. We just wanted to finish the game and hope he recovers soon.
“We want to win, but we don’t want his injury to get more serious,” Aaron told BWF in a post-match interview.
Wooi Yik added, “We just played our game, even though we could sense there was no rhythm from them anymore. We kept our pace going.”
The win sets up a crucial clash for Aaron and Wooi Yik later today, where they will meet Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in their second Group B match.
Meanwhile, in Group A of the men’s doubles match, Malaysian pair Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin Rumsani were not as fortunate, losing to Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen 18-21, 21-16, 14-21.
They will meet Taiwan’s world No. 10 Lee Jhe Huei-Yan Po Hsuan also later today. — December 12, 2024