Wuhan: Malaysia’s World No. 15 Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik got off to a strong start in the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) first round on Wednesday as they came from dropping a set to beat Thailand’s Kittinupong Kedren/Dechapol Puavaranukroh 21-15, 19-21, 21-17 and was scheduled to meet Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan in the second round.
But the 2019 All England from Indonesia have decided withdraw from the tournament immediately after they beat Liao Min Chun/Su Ching Heng of Taiwan 21-15, 21-16 in the first round match citing Hendra Setiawan was not fit to continue playing.
“I am not feeling well and need a little rest. Keep playing at the tournament could make my condition worse, therefore, Ahsan and I have decided to withdraw,” said Setiawan.
“We will return to Jakarta tomorrow. After that, we will take some rest before playing at the 2019 New Zealand Open next week. Hopefully I can recover quickly,” added Hendra.
Meanwhile, Soh Wooi Yik was hoping everything worked out well for the Indonesian pair.
“It’s a good news and it has boosted our motivation at our first Asian Championship. However, we hope everything is Ok with them,” said Soh.
“For us this is a good opportunity and we are ready to play at the quarterfinal this Friday,” added Soh.
Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik will face the winner of South Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk/Kim Won Ho or China’s Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan in the last eight.
Another Malaysian pair, Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi also battled through the opener over Lin Shang Kai/Tseng Min Hao of Taiwan with a 21-12, 21-12 victory, while Arif Latif/Azriyn Ayub defeated Inkarat Apisuk-Tanupat Viriyangkura from Thailand 21-14, 21-10.
However, Malaysia’s Rio Olympic silver medalists Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong suffered an early exit by losing to the Taiwanese pair, Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han 15-21, 21-11, 8-21.
