Making their Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 and driven by the gold ambition, Malaysian badminton duo Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik are quietly shuttling their way to the top
Malaysians rejoiced and celebrated as the country’s top badminton men’s doubles duo Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik served the final blow to Indonesian pair and current world number one Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the Tokyo 2020 men’s doubles quarterfinals. Despite being deemed as the underdogs, the stunning 33-minute victory has thrown the doors wide open for the Malaysian team to march into the semifinals, bringing them one step closer to an Olympics gold.
The pair is as thrilled as Malaysians about their win, with 23-year-old Soh saying that he didn't think he had ever felt this happy. "I think the reason we were so fired up today and won this match was because we know that all the Malaysians were behind us. We just wanted to fight for them,” he told The Star.
Read more: Lee Zii Jia: 5 Things To Know About Malaysia’s New Badminton Star
Chia and Soh will be gearing up to face China's Li Junhu and Liu Yuchen, who are the current world number four. Ahead of the game, here’s what you need to know about Malaysia’s badminton hopefuls: