Kuala Lumpur: Top national men’s pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik began their BWF World Tour Finals campaign in Bangkok on a winning note by beating Choi Solgyu-Seo Seung Jae on Wednesday.
Aaron-Wooi Yik needed only 38 minutes to record a 21-14, 21-19 victory over the South Korean pair in their opening Group B match to give them a boost of confidence for their following matches.
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“We are happy with our performance,” said Aaron.
“We were able to get our first win in the group stage so this will serve as a confidence booster for our next two matches.”
The world number nine pair are in Group B together with Solgyu-Seung Jae, Vladimir Ivanov-Ivan Sozonov from Russia and the third seeds Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia.
Another Malaysian pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, the fourth seeds, lost their opening Group A match to top seeds Lee Yang-Wang Chi Lin from Taiwan 18-21, 22-24.
Men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia also lost his opening match in Group A against Taiwan’s Chou Tien Chen, the third seed, 16-21, 21-12, 11-21.
In the women’s doubles, Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean edged Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen in their all-Malaysian clash of Group A. Mei Kuan-Meng Yean prevailed in three sets 21-16, 10-21, 21-15.
Meanwhile, women’s singles world number one Tai Tzu-ying fought back from behind to beat Indian star PV Sindhu in three games on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old Taiwanese lost the first game 19-21 against Sindhu, the Rio Olympics silver-medallist, before regrouping to win it 19-21, 21-12, 21-17 in 59 minutes.
“It was a good match, there were no easy points,” said Tai, who will face another tough assignment in her second round-robin match against Thailand’s former world champion Ratchanok Intanon.
Elsewhere Carolina Marin, looking for her third straight trophy of badminton’s three-tournament restart, held in a biosecure “bubble”, dispatched Russia’s Evgeniya Kosetskaya 21-19, 21-14 in 40 minutes.
“The first game was tough after winning two back-to-back titles,” said the reigning Olympic champion.
“Sometimes for your mindset, it’s tough to be ready again for a new week, a new match and a new tournament.” – Agencies
The delayed 2020 season finale, starting Wednesday, is the third behind-closed-doors tournament in three weeks in Bangkok as badminton resumes after months of coronavirus cancellations.
The top eight players in each discipline are contesting this week’s tournament, although China and Japan had to pull out because of coronavirus problems.
Despite the strict biosecurity arrangements, four people inside the tournament “bubble” have tested positive, including two players who were forced to withdraw.
