Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik delivered Malaysia’s first medal at the Tokyo Olympics after a sterling performance to come from a game down to beat Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan 17-21, 21-17, 21-14.

Winning for only the second time against reigning world champions not only avenged their group match defeat to the same opponents, but it also gave Malaysians a big reason to cheer after the pair clinched the bronze medal.

It was Ahsan-Hendra who started brightly, using brilliant shuttle placements to unsettle the Malaysians to take the lead with the 21-17 victory.

But Chia-Soh were determined to not let lightning strike twice against the same pair in Tokyo, and they improved in the second game to be on the front foot for most of the second game.

There were nerves right until the end with the Malaysians leading 11-6 at the interval until the crucial stage at 19-17, but Chia-Soh kept their composure to fire off two winning points and level.

The world number nine pair needed to show immense character in the third game if they wanted to come away with victory, and they did just that by turning up the heat with an aggressive play that left the Indonesians with no answer on many occasions.

Victory was sealed in 16 minutes as Chia-Soh won 21-14 to produce a historic moment for Malaysia at this Olympics.

“We never gave up and played to the best of our abilities in this game. I’m so happy to have won this for Malaysia,” said an clearly emotional Soh after the win.

Chia was also proud of their efforts, adding: “We are not completely satisfied with our performance in Tokyo as we did make quite a few mistakes here. But we can be proud of ourselves to overcome the pressure and win this match.”

The pair’s victory also ensured the badminton contingent continued to deliver for the country at the Olympics.

Their bronze medal meant the national shuttlers delivered nine medals at the Games since badminton was introduced at the 1992 edition in Barcelona.

Chia-Soh became the fourth men’s doubles pair to win a medal after Razif-Jalani Sidek, Cheah Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock and Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong.

(Photo: asiana.my)