KUALA LUMPUR: There was no dream start for Malaysia's top men's pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik at the World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, China, today.
The former world champions came up short in their Group A opening tie, losing narrowly 21-16, 14-21, 21-18 to Japan's Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi.
It was Aaron-Wooi Yik's sixth straight defeat to the Japanese pair since the Sudirman Cup semi-finals in 2021. Aaron-Wooi Yik had only beaten Hoki-Kobayashi twice in nine meetings.
World No. 3 Aaron-Wooi Yik must now win their remaining two ties in order to reach the semi-finals.
A consolation for the Malaysians is that their toughest rivals in the group, world No. 1 Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang of China, also lost their opening tie.
The homesters succumbed 21-18, 16-21, 21-16 to their world No. 8 compatriots Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi.
Only the top two pairs from both Group A and B will reach the knockout stage.
Aaron-Wooi Yik have never cleared the group stage in all three of their previous outings.
BAM coaching director Rexy Mainaky said the match against Hoki-Kobayashi was Aaron-Wooi Yik's for the taking.
However, simple mistakes in the deciding game proved costly.
"Aaron-Wooi Yik had a healthy 5-1 lead in the third game. In that moment you could see the Japanese pair temporarily losing their rhythm.
"But we started making too many simple mistakes, gave away easy points."
Former Olympic silver medallists Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong were the last Malaysian men's doubles pair to win a Super Series Finals title, achieved in 2016 in Dubai, before the tournament was replaced by the World Tour Finals two years later.