KUALA LUMPUR – Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei battled back from a set down to keep their challenge at the BWF World Tour Finals alive.
After starting their campaign with a loss yesterday, Tang Jie-Ee Wei faced the daunting task of going up against world number two pair Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre today.
The Japanese pair, who have a 2-0 record over the Malaysians, took the first set convincingly.
However, the world number eight Malaysian pair did not panic and took the next two sets to score their first win ever at the tour finals 12-21, 21-16, 21-16 in just over an hour.
Yesterday, Tang Jie-Ee Wei started their tournament with a tame defeat to world number four home pair Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping 21-10, 21-13 in just 38 minutes.
It seems like Tang Jie-Ee Wei are getting the hang of the bright lights in their debut campaign at the Tour Finals after today’s display of grit and determination.
They will next play Thai world number six pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai in the last Group A match tomorrow.
Earlier, former world champions men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik succumbed to their second defeat in this year’s tournament.
They took on home pair Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi and were sent packing by the world number eight 19-21, 21-18, 22-20 in an hour and 16 minutes.
The defeat may well have sealed their fate, needing to beat top-ranked duo Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang also from China tomorrow.
Even if they manage to win, they need results elsewhere to go their way to have even a glimmer of hope to make it out of the group stages for the first time in their fourth attempt. – November 14, 2023