Malaysian Pair Fall To Lower-Ranked Koreans In BAC Q-FINALS

KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 (Bernama) -- Malaysian men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, ranked 15th in the world, fell to a shock 15-21, 21-16, 18-21 quarter-final loss to world No. 41 Kang Min Hyuk-Kim Won Ho of South Korea in the quarter-finals of the 2019 Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) in Wuhan, China. All-England runners-up Aaron-Wooi Yik had earlier received a second-round bye when former world champions Mohamad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia pulled out from the tournament due to Hendra’s ill health. In Friday’s quarter-final clash at the Wuhan Sports Centre, the Malaysians did well to bounce back from a 15-21 first-game loss to take the second game 21-16. Then, in the decider, the Malaysians gallantly fought their way back from being 4-10 down to trail by just a point at 18-19. Having come so close, the Malaysians then blew their chances due to their own hastiness and errors, thus allowing the South Koreans to romp home 21-18. With Aaron-Wooi Yik’s defeat, Malaysia do not have any more representatives in this year’s BAC. The South Koreans will now take on fifth seeds Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe of Japan in the semi-finals. The Japanese pair had also caused a major upset when they downed second seeds Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen of China 21-19, 21-18 in the quarter-finals. The other semi-final on Saturday will pit top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia against third seeds Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda of Japan. -- BERNAMA