Zii Jia's hopes of building on his back-to-back semi-final outings at the All England and Swiss Open went up in smoke as he lost 21-19, 21-16 to Angus Ng Ka Long. - NSTP/ASWADI ALIAS.
KUALA LUMPUR: Reigning world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik showed nerves of steel to beat Indonesia's Leo Rolly Carnando-Daniel Marthin in the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) opener in Dubai as Lee Zii Jia's title defence bid failed miserably on Wednesday.
Ng Tze Yong also failed to show up as he lost in the first round.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, the runners-up last year, saved two match points at 20-18 to seal a thrilling 19-21, 21-19, 22-20 win over the Indonesians, who beat the Malaysians in the first-round of the All England last month.
The win sets up another massive clash with Olympic champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi Lin of Taiwan.
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The other two Malaysian men's pairs --- Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun --- are also through after beating their respective rivals from India.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi overcame M. R. Arjun-Dhruv Kapila 12-21, 21-16, 21-12 while Wei Chong-Kai Wun made a winning return in their first tournament since January with a 21-12, 21-17 win over P.S Ravikrishna-Sankar Prasad Udayakumar.
Had it not been for the wins chalked up by these three pairs, it would have completely been disastrous for the Malaysian camp on the second day, as the other eight representatives across four disciplines failed to progress.
The biggest letdowns were obviously Zii Jia and Tze Yong in the men's singles, where they both lost to Hong Kong opponents, coached by former Malaysian international Wong Tat Meng.
Zii Jia's hopes of building on his back-to-back semi-final outings at the All England and Swiss Open went up in smoke as he lost 21-19, 21-16 to Angus Ng Ka Long, while Tze Yong was beaten 21-17, 21-18 by Lee Cheuk Yiu .
Tze Yong was beaten 21-17, 21-18 by Lee Cheuk Yiu . - NSTP/ASWADI ALIAS.
The early round exit was certainly uncharacteristic for Tze Yong, as it showed that he still has plenty of catching up to do despite having slayed Denmark's world and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen at the All England.
In the women's singles, Goh Jin Wei was no match for South Korea's An Se Young, losing tamely 21-10, 21-8, while S. Kisona gave a good account of herself as she dragged Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong to three games before surrendering 18-21, 21-15, 21-13.
Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien and Ng Qi Xuan-Teoh Le Xuan were first-round casualties in the women's doubles.
Vivian-Chiew Sien went down 21-15, 21-12 to China's Zhang Shu Xian-Zheng Yu while Qi Xuan-Le Xuan were thrashed 21-3, 21-10 by world No 1 Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan.
In the mixed doubles, professional pair Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See found India's Rohan Kapoor-Sikki Reddy too tough to handle and lost 21-12, 21-16.
Tan Wee Kiong-Tan Kian Meng were the only men's doubles casualties following their 21-14, 21-17 defeat to India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty.
