World No 2 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik failed to enter their sixth final of the year after losing to top Indian pair Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy at the China Masters badminton men’s doubles semi-finals.
The Malaysian pair made numerous unforced errors which led to an easy victory for the 9th ranked Indian pair by a score of 21-17, 21-14 in 41 minutes at the World Tour Super 750 tournament played in the Shenzhen Arena today.
However, Aaron-Wooi Yik will take home US$17,500 (RM73,334) as semi-finalists.
The Malaysians were hoping to make their sixth final after having appeared in five this season. They won three of them namely the Thailand Open, Badminton Asia Championships and Singapore Open titles.
The defeat is only their fifth against the Indian pair; Aaron-Wooi Yik have a 11-5 score in the head-to-head record against Chirag-Satwiksairaj.
Malaysia’s badminton coaches have recently expressed concern over the inconsistency and drop in form of Aaron-Wooi Yik who are among the main medal contenders in the youth and sports ministry’s RM20 million Road to Gold project aimed at winning a gold medal at the 2028 Olympic Games in the US.
There is still hope for Malaysia to win a title tomorrow as recently-crowned world mixed doubles champions Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei will take on Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsamphran in the final.
The championship offers US$92,500 (RM387,624) for the doubles champions while the runners-up get US$43,750 (RM183,336), and semi-finalists take home US$17,500(RM73,334).
