Aaron–Wooi Yik lose in SEA Games final

Malaysia falls short of the four-gold target set by the Badminton Association of Malaysia prior to the SEA Games.

Aaron Chia–Soh Wooi Yik have now lost four of their five matches against Indonesia’s Sabar Karyaman Gutama–Reza Pahlevi Isfahani. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 National men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik failed to win a second gold medal for Malaysia at the SEA Games after falling to an Indonesian pair in today’s final.

The world No​ 2 pair and ​the competition’s top seeds lost 21-1​4, ​21-17​ to the eighth-ranked pair​ of Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Reza Pahlevi Isfahani,​ leaving Malaysia well short of the four-gold medal target announced by the Badminton Association of Malaysia.

This is the fourth time Aaron-Wooi Yik have lost to the top Indonesian pair in five encounters, including the loss in the team event final last week.

With this result, Malaysia’s medal haul in badminton at the SEA Games ended with one gold, two silver and six bronze for a total of nine medals, which surpassed BAM’s target of seven overall.

National women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M Thinaah secured the only gold medal earlier today.

Aaron-Wooi Yik’s loss does not augur well for their chances at next week’s lucrative World Tour Finals as they have been drawn in the “group of death” with India’s world No 3 pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, China’s seventh ranked pair Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang and Indonesia’s world No 9 pair Fajar Alfian-Shohibul Fikri. - FMT