Paris 2024: National shuttlers Aaron-Wooi Yik escape early setback to prevail against English pair

PARIS (July 27): Defending men’s doubles bronze medallists Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, buoyed by cheers from spectators, overcame an early setback at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games against Ben Lane-Sean Vendy of Great Britain in their Group A match here today.

World number four pair Aaron-Wooi Yik had to come from a set down to beat the world number 18 English pair 19-21, 21-16, 21-11 in a packed Porte de La Chapelle venue.

However, Wooi Yik said they managed to secure this hard-earned victory by sticking together and helping each other in the 72-minute battle.

“They struggled a lot in the first game, but in the last game they managed to win, there were moments of tension. We tried every time not to give them easy points. From then on, we pulled ourselves together and motivated ourselves for the victory.

“The unconditional support of the fans gave us extra motivation when we were behind. We went to Tokyo as underdogs and managed to beat a few favourites. We wanted to keep that same reputation here,” he said after the match.

Aaron-Wooi have won four of their previous five matches against Lane-Vendy but suffered defeat in their last meeting at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

After winning bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Aaron-Wooi Yik secured the 2022 world championship title, also in Tokyo, and is considered one of the favourites to end the country’s first gold medal run at the Olympics.

Sharing the same sentiment with Wooi Yik, Aaron admitted that high expectations come with pressure for them.

“The pressure is always there, I think it’s normal, but we have to stay calm and collected and play our normal game, as an underdog, and enjoy the game,” he said.

He added that they were still consulting Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) psychologist Frederick Tan to help them manage the pressure.

Tomorrow, Aaron-Wooi Yik will face Canadians Adam Dong-Nyl Yakura, who were beaten 5-21, 12-21 by top seeds Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang of China, and a win would secure Aaron-Wooi Yik a spot in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, in the women’s doubles, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah could not match the prowess of world number one Chinese pair Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan, losing 17-21, 20-22 in 55 minutes despite a tough fight in a Group A match.

It is their seventh defeat in eight meetings against the powerful Chinese pair.

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games champions must win their remaining matches against world number six Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara of Japan and world number nine Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia to secure their place in the quarter-finals. – Bernama

— BERNAMA

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Saturday July 27, 2024