KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 – After the stunning win over Olympic champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi Lin of Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals, much was expected from Malaysia’s top men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in the semi-finals against Japan’s Takuro Hoki at the USD600,000 Daihatsu Indonesia Masters in Bali on Saturday.
Instead, it turned out to be false call as the Tokyo Olympics bronze medal winners battled in vain against the Japanese prevailed 18-21, 21-19, 21-17 in a 63 minutes thriller.
The Japanese went into the match with a 3-2 lead in the head to head count against the Malaysians.
The defeat in Bali, Aaron-Wooi Yik are still chasing their dreams of winning a first BWF World Tour title. The setback also means the Malaysians’ could miss out playing in the season ending World Tour Finals. Their hopes now rest in next week’s Indonesia Open.
”We lost focus when it mattered most,” said Aaron Chia on their defeat.
It was a double blow for Malaysia when professionals Teo Ee Yi-Ong Yew Sin faltered against top seeds and World No 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo after winning the first game 21-18.
However, the Indonesians checked their game and forced a rubber by winning the second game 21-17.
There was no stopping the Indonesians in the decider as they got into their rhythm to easily win the third game 21-11 and book their place in Sunday’s final after 58 minutes.
The men’s singles final will be between top seed Kento Momota and Denmark’s Anders Antonsen.
Momota downed Taiwanese fourth seed Chou Tien Chen 21-19, 21-11 while the third seeded Dane outplayed India’s K. Srikanth 21-14, 21-9.
Top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan will face Korea’s An Seyoung for the women’s singles title. In the semi-finals Yamaguchi defeated India’s No 3 seed P.V. Sindhu 21-13, 21-9 while Seyoung packed off Phittayaporn Chaiwan of Thailand 21-16, 21-13.
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