Iksan City: World No. 6 men’s doubles pair – Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia had a tough encounter with the World No. 189 pair, Chiang Chien-Wei/Wei Chun Wei of Chinese Taipei in the first round of the Korea Masters on Tuesday.
Highlights of Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik vs. Chiang Chien-Wei/Wei Chun Wei in the 2024 Korea Masters first round:
This was the first encounter for Chia/Soh against Chiang/Wei. The Malaysian duo lost the first game 12-21. Chia/Soh barely clinched the second game 21-18. In the decider, Chia/Soh were trailing 2-4 initially but they pulled ahead, despite a fierce comeback from the Taiwanese duo, Chia/Soh eventually won 21-17.
In the next round, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medalists Chia/Soh will face the winner between Chinese Taipei’s Wu Hsuan-Yi/Ye Hong Wei and Korea’s Ko Sung-hyun and Shin Baek-cheol.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s 2024 World Junior Champions Kang Khai Xing/Aaron Tai were eliminated in straight sets by the 5th seeds Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Daniel Marthin from Indonesia in the first round of the men’s doubles competition.
Kang/Tai fought hard but lost 20-22, 17-21.
Similarly, 6th seeds Choong Hon Jian/Muhammad Haikal went through a grueling three-game match, ultimately losing 11-21, 21-10, 17-21 to the 107th ranked pair from Chinese Taipei, Lu Chen/Po Liwei 11-21, 21-10, 17-21, in a 53-minute encounter.
Malaysia is represented by two players in the men’s singles: Justin Hoh faces Thailand’s 8th seed Kantaphon Wangcharoen, and Kok Jing Hong takes on Korea’s Do Dong Wook.