All-England debutants Aaron and Wooi Yik make winning start.
Debutants Aaron-Wooi Yik show character in winning start at All-England
PETALING JAYA: National men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik made a wonderful All- England debut in Birmingham.
The world No. 19 pair showed resilience and determination to bounce back from a poor first game to beat Taiwan’s Lu Ching-yao-Yang Po-han 12-21, 21-16, 21-16.
The Malaysians struggled in the first game and looked like they were headed for the next flight home but then found their rhythm after that to eventually secure victory in 49 minutes.
It’s a positive start for the youngsters who are featuring in the prestigious event for the very first time.
“In the first game, we couldn’t get a feel of our game and things just didn’t go well for us but in the second and third, we slowly got back to playing to our strength.
“It was tough after losing the first but we just told ourselves to stay focused and stick to our game plan.
“It’s an amazing feeling and really exciting to win our first match in such a prestigious tournament. We just hope we can keep the consistency and momentum.”
It will be tough after that as Aaron-Wooi Yik will most likely play fifth seeds Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark for a place in the last eight.
The Danes should be able to see off Indonesia’s Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pangkaryanira-Ade Yusuf Santoso.
Joining them in the second round are their seniors and independent compatriots Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong, who cleared a tricky first-round hurdle against Indonesians Berry Angriawan-Hardianto Hardianto, winning 21-14, 17-21, 21-17.
The pair will next play either their former national teammates Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi or Japanese fourth seeds Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe.
V Shem-Wee Kiong will be looking to improve on their best finish at the Open when they finished in the last four in 2016.
In the men’s singles, Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long pulled off the first upset of the tournament by beating 2018 Asian Games champion Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia.
It was sweet revenge for Angus, who fell to Anthony in their last meeting during the first round of the Japan Open in September last year.