Bangkok: Viktor Axelsen and Loh Kean Yew won their respective opening matches at the 2022 BWF World Tour Finals on Wednesday.
Axelsen, the three-time champion (2016, 2017, 2021) top-seeded Dane, beat Chinese player Lu Guang Zu 21-13, 21-11 in 39 minutes in Group A.
Highlights of Viktor Axelsen vs. Lu Guang Zu the first Group A match of 2022 BWF World Tour Finals:
Loh Kean Yew of Singapore also got off to a strong start by outlasting No. 2 seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-15, 21-17.
In men’s doubles, the reigning World Champions – Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik had to concede to the veteran Indonesian pair, Mohamad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan 12-21, 15-21 on Wednesday.
Highlights of Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik vs. Mohamad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan at 2022 BWF World Tour Finals:
“We started a bit slow and they controlled the game well. We were a bit disappointed because it was a 50-50 game and we shouldn’t have lost quite easily like this,” said Soh.
“Anyway, we take this defeat as a lesson. We will recover in the next game and do even better,” added Soh.
Chia/Soh must register a win over the Chinese pair, Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi to revive their chance of reaching the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, another Malaysian men’s doubles pair, Teo Ee Yi/Ong Yew Sin also lost their first Group A match by going down to the world number one pair from Japan, Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi 19-21, 16-21.
Teo/Ong will play the South Korean pair, Choi Sol Gyu/Kim Won Ho on Thursday.
