Kuala Lumpur: World No. 6 Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia came back from 18-20 in the first game to eventually fend off World No. 609 Taiwanese pair, Chang Ko-Chi/Po Li-Wei in the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters on Friday.
The Malaysia duo won 23-21, 21-16 in 46 minutes and is scheduled to meet Indonesia’s World No. 5 Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto for a spot in the final.
Alfian/Ardianto defeated another Malaysian pair – Junaidi Arif/Muhammad Haikal 21-10, 21-16 to make the semi-finals.
The achievement for Arif/Haikal at the Malaysia Masters was considered better than expected as they lost in the first round of the Malaysia Open last week to the hands of compatriots Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi 19-21, 13-21.
Arif/Haikal’s best achievement this season was at the Orleans Masters which took place in France, in March 2022, when they advanced to the final but had to withdraw from the tournament after Haikal was tested positive for COVID-19.
Meanwhile, China’s young men’s pair Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang pulled off a huge upset to down reigning World Champions and last week’s Malaysia Open champions Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi 21-14, 18-21, 21-18 in the quarter-finals. The Chinese pair will face World No. 3 Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia on Saturday.
