Faizal Salim
KUALA LUMPUR: Former men's doubles world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik had earlier stated their intention to win the Olympic gold in Paris.
That's not going to happen.
The Malaysian duo were stopped 21-19, 15-21, 21-17 by China's world No. 1 Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang in the semi-finals at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena today,
Aaron-Wooi Yik had earlier lost to the China pair in a group match, and they could not change the script in the Part Two fight.
World No. 3 Aaron-Wooi Yik battled hard for 72 minutes, but just couldn't break through the Great Wall.
"We have done our best, but sometimes that is not enough to get the result that you want. We got our gameplay right but we were too hasty in wanting to win points, and that led us into a lot of errors.
"There is another match (bronze playoff), so we have to refocus to bring home a medal," Aaron told the BWF.
Wooi Yik lamented their inability to get the upper hand during the first three shots of the rallies.
"Every point counts, the fight for the first three shots was crucial as the rallies were really fast.
"When the pace is high, the pair that are confident have the upper hand. We tried a variety of strategies but unfortunately, we could not get to the final," said Wooi Yik.
Aaron-Wooi Yik will meet the losers of the match between Denmark's Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and Taiwan's Lee Yang-Wang Chi Lin in the playoff for a bronze medal on Sunday. Aaron-Wooi Yik won the bronze in Tokyo 2021.