BANGKOK, May 16 — Malaysia’s leading men’s doubles pair and reigning Asian men’s doubles champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik have set their sights on clinching the Thailand Open 2025 title after sweeping aside compatriots Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King in the quarter-finals today.
Chia-Soh, the tournament’s second seeds, defeated their junior counterparts Arif-Yap 21-12, 21-13, to set up a semi-final clash with home favourites and tournament fifth seeds Kittinupong Kedren-Dechapol Puavaranukroh of Thailand tomorrow.
Chia said they are focused on taking it one game at a time, but remain hopeful of securing the title this year.
"Of course, we hope to go all the way to win it, but at the moment, we just need to give our best in every match we play.
"For tomorrow, we just need to prepare ourselves to face the match and give it everything we have. Win or lose, it is secondary as long as we have given our best," he told Bernama after the match.
Chia also noted that it is encouraging to see the rise of many junior pairs, including Wan Arif-Roy King, Man Wei Chong-Kai Wun Tee, and Choong Hon Jian-Muhammad Haikal, participating in major tournaments.
"The juniors are improving, and we are getting more and more men’s doubles pairs in major tournaments, which is a healthy sign for the country," he said.
Meanwhile, Arif admitted they did not deliver their best performance against the senior pair Chia-Soh and acknowledged the need for significant improvements to progress further in future tournaments.
"Unfortunately, we could not perform at our best today, which cost us the match. After the game, I think we need to work on receiving the shuttle better and improving our consistency in the game plan," he said.
For the record, the last Malaysian men’s doubles pair to win the Thailand Open title was Chan Peng Soon-Lim Khim Wah in 2009.
— Bernama
