[UPDATED] All England: Aaron-Wooi Yik fall short in final

KUALA LUMPUR – Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik missed out on being crowned the new All England men’s doubles champions after losing to the Indonesian pair Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the just-concluded final.

The Malaysians, ranked fifth in the world, lost 16-21, 16-21 in straight sets lasting 44 minutes at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, marking their fourth loss to the top Indonesian doubles pairing in eight meetings. 

Today’s defeat also marked the second time Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik failed to win the prestigious Super 1000, as they succumbed to Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in the final in 2019. 

The last time a Malaysian men’s doubles pair won the All England title was in the 2007 edition through Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong, who defeated China’s Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng 21-15, 21-18. 

Their success back then was achieved only 25 years after Datuk Razif Sidek and Datuk Seri Jalani Sidek’s victory in 1982.

Wooi Yik openly admits that his opponents were more consistent in the match and further thanked the Malaysian fans for their support in rallying behind the pair during their All England campaign. 

“We tried to change our tactics to make ourselves more comfortable with our gameplay in the match, but they were more consistent than us in terms of serving and defending. 

“But overall, we did our best, and we will try to get back and learn more from this experience. 

“The fans’ support means a lot to us, and we are really thankful for them. We wanted to give them the win, but we couldn’t do it today. 

“At the end of the day, this is a process, and we want to just focus and believe in ourselves in the next tournaments that we compete in,” said Wooi Yik during the post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation. 

Meanwhile, Aaron added that he was happy with the overall progress shown by him and his partner in the tournament over the past week. 

“First of all, congratulations to our opponents. It’s not the result that we wanted; we had our chances in the game, but it was not easy to overcome our opponents. 

“For us, it’s not about our opponents’ speed – it’s their gameplay and their shots that really gave us some problems, and that’s what made it hard for us to overcome them. 

They played really well by controlling the game, and our gameplay just didn’t work today. But we are happy with our performance for the whole week and getting back to our momentum,” added Aaron. – March 18, 2024