Badminton

Aaron-Wooi Yik on the brink of greatness

Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik could not have picked a better tournament than the World Championships in Tokyo to break their semi-final jinx.

The world No 6 men's doubles are now on the brink of becoming Malaysia's first ever badminton world champions. The Malaysians will take on three-time winners Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia in the final tomorrow.

Today, in the gruelling battle of nerves at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Aaron-Wooi Yik edged India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty 20-22, 21-18, 21-16 to become only the fifth Malaysian men's pair to reach the world meet final.

The other four were Razif-Jalani Sidek (1987), Cheah Soon Kit-Soo Beng Kiang (1993), Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock (1997) and Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (2010).

Having already lost in six semi-finals this year, including the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham recently, the pressure was on Aaron-Wooi to dig deep.

"It was definitely nervy today, but we kept our focus on every point and made sure we encouraged each other — that won us the match today," Aaron said in the post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

Wooi Yik, who was the main target for the Indian world No 7, noted that Aaron was his guiding force and that timing was impeccable for them to get out of their rut.

"Today's match was different from our previous ones. We had to break the semi-final jinx.

"I made mistakes today, but Aaron was encouraging me and giving me that confidence.

"I am glad to have finally done it," added Wooi Yik, who now has an opportunity to do one better than his uncle Beng Kiang, who reached the final in 1993.

Despite the huge expectations on their shoulders, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists believe their mission is far from over.

On paper, Aaron-Wooi Yik will start as underdogs in tomorrow's final, having won only three times in 10 previous meetings against Ahsan-Hendra.

"We want to put aside the history-making narrative and focus on our final first.

"Our mission here is far from over," said Aaron.

In the other semi-final match, Ahsan-Hendra, fondly known as the "Daddies" for their seniority, ousted their compatriots Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto 23-21, 12-21, 21-16 to make their fourth World Championships final since 2013.

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