World No 6 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik do not want to get carried away after assuring their first World Championships meWorld No 6 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik do not want to get carried away after assuring their first World Championships medal in Tokyo yesterday.
Instead, the 'nearly-men' of Malaysian badminton want to do more as they hope to become the country's first world champions in the sport.
The Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists reached the semi-finals of the world meet for the first time when they edged South Korea's Choi Sol Gyu-Seo Seung Jae 21-18, 21-16 in the quarter-finals yesterday.
With the win, Aaron-Wooi Yik, who have yet to drop a game in the tournament, have assured themselves at least a bronze.
They are only the third Malaysian pair to secure a medal in both the Olympics and World Championships after Razif-Jalani Sidek and Cheah Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock.
But surely Aaron-Wooi Yik will not rest on their laurels with Malaysian fans rooting for them to deliver the country's first-ever world title.
The pair have a realistic chance of making it to the final as they face world No 7 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty in today's semi-finals.
Aaron-Wooi Yik has won all five previous meetings against the Indian pair.
However, Aaron-Wooi Yik will not take Satwiksairaj-Chirag lightly today, although the Malaysians had beaten them twice this year at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and the Asian Championships.
Satwikrairaj-Chirag, the Commonwealth Games champions, stunned defending champions Takuro Hoki-Takuro Hoki of Japan 24-22, 15-21, 21-14 in their quarter-final encounter.
With the win, Satwiksairaj-Chirag become the first Indian pair to reach the men's doubles semi-final at the world meet.
"Every tournament is a new start... that (100 per cent record against opponents) will probably just help us a little on the psychological side. However, everything else still depends very much on ourselves," said Aaron yesterday.
"You don't win a match on paper. We still need to focus and do the job on the court."
Motivated by their solid performance thus far this week, Aaron hopes they have what it takes to break through the semi-final hurdle.
For the record, Aaron-Wooi Yik lost six of their seven semi-finals this year.
"I think we are improving day-by-day, but we want to keep improving further, especially our consistency on the court," said Aaron.
Meanwhile, Satwiksairaj-Chirag are determined to create another history to complement India's first Thomas Cup triumph in May.
"Winning a medal at the worlds for me is on par with the Thomas Cup. We hope to go all the way," said Chirag.
RESULTS Q-FINALS Men's singles: Zhao Jun Peng (Chn) bt HS Prannoy (Ind) 19-21, 21-6, 21-18; Chou Tien Chen (Tai) bt Jonatan Christie (Ina) 14-21, 21-11, 22-20; Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) bt Loh Kean Yew (Sin) 21-12, 17-21, 21-8; Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (Ina) 21-10, 21-10.
Doubles: Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto (Ina) bt Ben Lane-Sean Vendy (Eng) 21-11, 21-16; Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) bt MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapila (Ind) 21-8, 21-14; Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (Mas) bt Choi Sol Gyu-Seo Seung Jae (Kor) 21-18, 21-16; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) 24-22, 15-21, 21-14.
Women's singles: Chen Yu Fei (Chn) bt Michelle LI (Can) 21-18, 21-17; Tai Tze Ying (Tai) bt Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Tha) 21-16, 21-9.
Doubles: Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan (Chn) bt Jongkolphan Kititharakul Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha) 21-16, 21-7; Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara (Jpn) bt Lee So Hee-Shin Seung Chan (Kor) 21-13, 19-21, 21-12; Kim So Yeong-Kong Hee Yong (Kor) bt Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida (Jpn) 21-16, 21-15; Puttita Supajirakul-Sapsiree Taerattanach (Tha) bt Zhang Shu Xian-Zheng Yu (Chn) 15-21, 21-18, 22-20.
Mixed doubles: Mark Lamsfuss-Isabel Lohau (Ger) bt Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet (Hkg) 21-13,13-21,21-19; Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong (Chn) bt Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (Mas) 21-9, 21-9; Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino (Jpn) bt Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai (Mas) 21-17, 21-13.