KUALA LUMPUR – Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik swatted aside their opponents to advance to the men’s doubles semi-finals at the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC), in Ningbo, China today.
The tournament’s fourth seeds faced the challenge of home pair and world number eights Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi in the quarter-finals.
In a dominant display, the Malaysian pair hushed the home crowd with a 21-14, 21-15 straight-sets win.
Going into the game, the Chinese pair had a 4-3 advantage in the head-to-head record but that did not faze Aaron-Wooi Yik as they wrapped the game up in just 30 minutes.
The BAC is akin to a Super 1000 event and offers maximum Olympic qualifying points.
Aaron-Wooi Yik are looking to improve their ranking to chase better seeding for the Paris Games in July.
In the semi-finals tomorrow, Aaron-Wooi Yik could face compatriots Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani.
However, the world number 18s will have to beat reigning Olympic champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin of Chinese Taipei later today. – April 12, 2024