KUALA LUMPUR – Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik missed out on being crowned the new China Open men’s doubles champions after losing to the Chinese pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in the final today.
The Malaysians, ranked fourth in the world, lost in straight sets 21-12, 21-14 in 26 minutes at the Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, which was also their fifth loss to the Chinese top doubles pairing in six meetings.
Datuk Razif Sidek and Datuk Seri Jalani Sidek remain the only Malaysian men’s doubles pair to have won the China Open, defeating China’s Huang Zhanzhong-Zheng Yumin in 1989.
“We are still satisfied with our performance in the tournament except for today’s final,” Aaron told the Badminton World Federation in a post-match interview.
“We were unable to speed up our game against them as they have an advantage and (the) confidence of playing at home.”
Meanwhile, Wooi Yik added that the game was lost due to the Malaysian pair’s unforced errors. “We need to take the blame for our defeat. They hardly beat us but we need to accept the fact that we beat ourselves,” he said.
“We still have the hunger to win our first world tour title. Our time is not there yet and I believe that we will win it one day.” – September 10, 2023