Tokyo: Malaysia’s men’s doubles World No. 4 and reigning World Champions Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, secured a spot in the quarter-finals of the 2023 Japan Open.
Highlights of Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik vs. Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Bagas Maulana in the 2023 Japan Open second round:
Unfortunately, World No. 21 men’s singles player Ng Tze Yong, along with three other doubles pairs, were unable to replicate the success of the world champions.
Chia/Soh dominated the Indonesian duo, Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Bagas Maulana, with a convincing score of 21-12, 21-10 in just 24 minutes.
This victory marked the third consecutive win for Chia/Soh against the World’s 14th-ranked team from Indonesia, following their triumphs at the Indonesia Open and Singapore Open last month.
In the upcoming quarter-finals at Yoyogi Gymnasium tomorrow, Chia/Soh will face the fifth-seeded Japanese pair, Takura Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi. Hoki/Kobayashi beat Ren Xiang Yu/Tan Qiang of China 21-11, 23-21.
Despite Chia/Soh’s impressive performance, two other men’s pairs from Malaysia couldn’t make it to the quarter-finals, as they were defeated by their opponents in the second round today.
Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin faced disappointment after losing to the eighth-seeded Chinese pair, Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi, 14-21, 17-21. Meanwhile, Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi put up a tough fight but ultimately fell short against the Taiwanese team, Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin, 21-15, 18-21, 16-21.
On the women’s doubles, Malaysia’s Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan also suffered defeat, losing in straight sets to the top-seeded Chinese duo, Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan, 15-21, 13-21 in 43 minutes.
In the men’s singles category, Ng Tze Yong faced a challenging second-round match against Koki Watanabe from Japan and was sent packing by Watanabe 17-21, 14-21 in 46 minutes.
