Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik booked their berth at the Tokyo Olympics quarter-finals after a 21-15, 21-13 over Canadian duo Jason Shue-Nyl Yakura in their final Group D men’s doubles match.
Their reward is a quarter-final showdown against Indonesian world number one pair Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo-Marcus Fernaldi Gideon.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Malaysians despite their 33-minute straight game victory suggested.
The world number 32 pairing of Shue-Yakura showed plenty of tenacity and immense work-rate to match their much higher ranked opponent, and fought point for point until 9-9 in the first game.
Once Chia-Soh got into the interval with the lead, they were more comfortable and it showed in their game which they took 21-15.
In the second game, several overhead smashes from Chia went wayward and it provided a glimmer of hope for the Canadians, but the Malaysians soon recovered and it was over with a 21-13 win.
Chia-Soh only needed to win this match to finish second in their group after Indonesian pair Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan defeated South Koreans Choi Sol-gyu-Seo Seung-jae in a nail-biting three game affair in the earlier session.
They will have to be on top of their game against Kevin-Marcus in the last eight, whom they have not beaten on seven occasions dating back to 2018.
(Photo: asiana.my)
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Let us know ? Matches start 2️⃣9️⃣ July ?
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