Tokyo: Relief for Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik as they finally claimed an international title on Sunday, and it’s a big one. The World No. 6 Chia/Soh created history and broke the 45-year world championship drought for Malaysia by winning its first-ever World badminton title in Tokyo.
Highlights of Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik vs. Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan in the 2022 World Championships final:
Facing the three-time world champions – Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan of Indonesia in the final, Chia/Soh were trailing 0-3, 11-16, 12-18 in the first game before staging an amazing comeback when they decided to lift the shuttlecock high to the backcourt and used their strong defense to slowly edged their way back into the match as they leveled the score 19-19.
At the critical moment, the two veterans from Indonesia could not score through their offense, while Chia/Soh who demonstrated solid defense and continued to send the shuttlecock to the backcourt, scoring two points in a row to take the first game 21-19.
Chia/Soh gained more confidence in the second game, using their speed and strength to dominate the game while Setiawan/Ahsan showed signs of physical fatigue as they couldn’t launch consecutive attacks and committed frequent mistakes. Chia/Soh both sank to their knees after Setiawan failed to return a drop shot by Chia which allowed the Malaysians to wrap up the second set 21-14 thus making history for Malaysian badminton at the World Championships.
“We have been playing together for more than 4 years and winning the world championships is really a huge motivation for us. Before this, we kept losing in the semi-finals and finals, but we really worked hard and we finally did it. It’s like a dream, a dream of being a world champion,” said Soh after the match.
“I am a frontcourt player, but I also want to be an all-rounder. I have done a lot of work in the backcourt. This is our strategy for success,” added Soh.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s badminton legend, Lee Chong Wei also congratulated Chia/Soh on finally bringing home a world championships title for Malaysia.
