Newly paired Malaysian shuttlers Aaron Chia-Aaron Tai continued to defy expectations by upsetting Taiwan’s Lee Jhe Huei-Yang Po Hsuan to reach the Taipei Open semi-finals on 31 July.
FMT reported that the fifth-seeded Malaysian pair came from a game down to beat world No 17 Lee Jhe Huei-Yang Po Hsuan 15-21, 21-7, 21-18 at the Taipei Arena.
Playing in only their second tournament together, Chia and Tai showed composure to turn the match around after losing the opener to a vociferous home crowd backing their opponents. The Malaysian pair levelled the tie with a dominant 21-7 second game before edging the decider 21-18 in 44 minutes.
According to FMT, the result is a promising sign for the Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) experimental shake-up, which paired senior players with younger shuttlers in a bid to find new men’s doubles combinations. Chia and Tai are the most successful of the four new pairs tried so far, after the other three partnerships were eliminated in the first round at their previous two tournaments.
The eliminated pairs were Soh Wooi Yik-Man Wei Chong, Tee Kai Wun-Yap Roy King, and Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Kang Khai Xing.
The Star reported that Chia and Tai will face another Taiwanese pair in the semi-finals on Saturday when they take on world No 82 Chen Cheng Kuan-Liu Kuang Heng. The Malaysians are competing in only their second tournament together after losing in the first round at the China Open last week.
Separately, men’s singles shuttler Justin Hoh bowed out in the quarter-finals after losing to fast-rising Korean shuttler Yoo Tae-bin 21-17, 21-18. According to The Star, the world No 50 had held the lead for most of the first game but the world No 73 Korean caught up to clinch the win in 40 minutes.
The Taipei Open is a World Tour Super 300 event.
