AARON-WOOI YIK SERVE NOTICE

Malaysia’s young guns can hold their heads high despite defeat in final

AFTER charging into the final of the All-England by knocking out three world top-12 pairs, Malaysia’s young guns Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were not able to have a fairy tale ending in Birmingham on Sunday.

Though the BAM pair were edged by Indonesia’s two-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan, they, nonetheless, left a deep impression at the All England.

“We were elated when we made it to the final in our maiden appearance, but it was still disappointing to lose like this,” said Aaron, who was first paired with Wooi Yik in November 2017.

They were so close to winning it, so close to becoming the first Malaysian men’s pair to win the All England crown since Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong’s triumph in 2007.

The path to the All England title had looked good for Aaron, 22 and Wooi Yik, 21, when they easily won the first game 21-11.

But the Indonesian veteran pair’s edge in returning service, and winning points at the third stroke saw them prevailing in the second and third games.

Ahsan-Setiawan were so sharp that they forced their way to a 2114, 21-12 in the remaining games.

And Setiawan was the masterplanner.

“Yes, Setiawan is very good at net play. They were better in the third stroke, and they used it to beat us,” admitted Aaron.

This was the third time that they lost to Ahsan-Setiawan on the international circuit.

Aaron-Wooi Yik started their All England campaign by routing World No 6 Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen of Denmark before stunning China’s 2017 World champions Liu Cheng-Zhang Nan in the quarter-finals.

They continued their giant killing act against Asian Games silver medallists Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in the last four.

But in the end, there were just one too many Indonesian barriers as Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan proved unrelenting.