Changzhou: Malaysia’s World No. 6 men’s pair – Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, have secured their berth in the top eight of the 2023 China Open. The 2022 World Champions, demonstrated exceptional skill in the men’s doubles round of 16 as they overcame China’s World No. 16 He Jiting/Zhou Haodong with a compelling score of 21-16, 21-17.
Highlights of Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik vs. He Jiting/Zhou Haodong in the 2023 China Open second round:
Their compatriots, the World No. 8 Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi, also put up a noteworthy performance, besting Denmark’s World No. 31 Rasmus Kjær/Frederik Søgaard 21-12, 21-17.
Highlights of Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi vs. Rasmus Kjær/Frederik Søgaard in the 2023 China Open second round:
Both Chia/Soh and Ong/Teo will cross-swords against each other on Friday for a place in the semi-finals.
In another thrilling encounter, South Korea’s newly crowned world champions, Kang Min Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae, edged out Tokyo Olympic gold medalists Wang Chi-Lin/Lee Yang of Chinese Taipei in a nail-biting three-setter, 21-19, 17-21, 25-23. Meanwhile, the 2022 All England titleholders Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Bagas Maulana from Indonesia secured a convincing win over fellow countrymen World No. 22 Pramudya Kusumawardana/Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan, finishing 21-16, 21-12.
Host nation China has had its share of triumphs too in the men’s doubles, with pairs Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang and Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi confirming their slots in the top four. Third seeds Liang and Wang overpowered their Japanese adversaries, Akira Koga/Taichi Saito 21-14, 22-20. Liu/Ou, in a dazzling comeback, defeated Lee Fang-Chih/Lee Fang-Jen from Chinese Taipei with a scoreline of 15-21, 21-17, 21-18.
In the quarterfinal spotlight, Denmark’s Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen will face Japan’s Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi. Both pairs have had stellar performances in the second round, with the Danes routing Lee Jhe-Huei/Yang Po-Hsuan 21-8, 21-13, while the Japanese team surpassed compatriots Keiichiro Matsui/Yoshinori Takeuchi in a decisive straight-set victory.
