Kuala Lumpur: After the World No. 6 men’s doubles pair – Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik recorded their fifth defeat to Japan’s reigning World Champions – Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi 21-23, 9-21 in the semi-finals of the 2022 Malaysia Open, the doubles coaching director of Badminton Association of Malaysia – Rexy Mainaky was noticeably (and understandably) unhappy when answering reporters’ questions after the match.
“In the second set, their opponents were only leading by 5-1, and they seemed to already didn’t know how to play the game,” said Mainaky.
“I am really puzzled about this. Aaron, Wooi Yik played well in the first round, second round, and third round, however, when they reached semi-finals, I don’t know what they were thinking,” added Mainaky.
“I think this has nothing to do with their skills, it’s about their mental strength,” explained Mainaky.
Despite leading at 18-14 in the first game, Chia/Soh failed to convert by allowing the Japanese pair to come back to take the game 23-21. The demoralized Malaysian duo then surrendered the second game easily with 9-21.
“We were leading at the end of the first game, but the same problem always happens again and again. We have to find a way to solve this problem,” said Chia.
Another Malaysian pair – the World No. 12 Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin also faltered in the semi-finals when they went down to World No. 7 Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia 14-21, 12-21.
“It’s not our day today, we were a bit intimidated by them,” said Goh.
In women’s doubles, two underdog pairs – the World No. 133 Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia and World No. 33 Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng Yu will be playing against each other in the final on Sunday. Rahayu/Ramadhanti had a 1-0 career advantage over Zhang/Zheng where the Indonesian pair defeated the Chinese pair 21-16, 16-21, 21-18 in the 2022 Indonesia Open second round three weeks ago.
China’s World No. 2 mixed doubles pair – Zheng Siwei/Huang Ya Qiong was on course for their fifth title of the season when they advanced to the Malaysia Open final by beating Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra Boje of Denmark 21-18, 21-8. Zheng/Huang will take on the World No. 1 Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in the final. Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai were made to work on Saturday before overcoming the Tokyo Olympic mixed doubles champions – Wang Yi Lyu/Huang Dong Ping of China 23-21, 19-21, 21-14.
