KUALA LUMPUR: A little motivation from their history-making compatriots helped men's doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik to overcome their nerves and march into the Olympic semi-finals in Paris on Thursday.
India's world No. 5 Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were the favourites in Thursday's quarter-finals after winning the last three encounters against the Malaysian pair.
However, world No. 3 Aaron-Wooi Yik overcame a first-game blemish to beat Chirag-Satwiksairaj 13-21, 21-14, 21-16 in 63 minutes to reach their second Olympic semi-finals after winning bronze at Tokyo 2020.
Wooi Yik revealed that encouraging words from Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah, who became the first Malaysian women's doubles pair to reach the Olympic semi-finals, inspired them.
"We are happy for Pearly-Thinaah. They won earlier today, and it was quite motivating to witness. Their match was very exciting too. That made us excited for our match," said Wooi Yik.
"We were quite nervous as you know this is the Olympics. They gave us supportive words before our match.
"Aaron and I just want to keep going in the tournament," the 26-year-old told the BWF.
Meanwhile, Aaron said: "I was nervous and felt some pressure during the match. This is because we had lost to them on several occasions.
"However, we were motivated to take them down this time, and I am glad we have achieved it," said Aaron.
Aaron and Wooi Yik will now focus on Friday's semi-final against world No. 1 Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang from China.
"I believe as long we focus on our game, we will get result," Aaron added.