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Badminton pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik delivers bronze for Malaysia’s first medal at Tokyo Olympics

Bronze medallists Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik pose with their bronze medals after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics badminton Men’s Doubles medal ceremony at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, Tokyo July 31, 2021. — Reuters pic
Bronze medallists Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik pose with their bronze medals after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics badminton Men’s Doubles medal ceremony at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, Tokyo July 31, 2021. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — Malaysia’s top badminton men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik delivered Malaysia’s first medal at the Tokyo Olympics, with a bronze following their 17-21, 21-17, 21-14 win over Indonesia’s Muhammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan.

The duo came back from a lacklustre first set to win their first ever Olympic medal in their maiden appearance.

The world No. 9 pair are the only survivors in the badminton draw after every other shuttler, except men’s singles ace Lee Zii Jia, lost in the group stages.

After losing the first set and going into the second set down 11-8, they clawed their way back from a four-point deficit to take the lead for the first time in the match at 14-13. After some back and forth they took the set 21-17.

In the third set, they got off to a fast lead at 8-4 and headed into the break at 11-6. The Indonesian pair looked out of sorts but managed to claw their way back to 16-12.

However, from then on, the Malaysians only lost two points, attacking Ahsan relentlessly to close out the set with a clinical smash.

Their win ensures that badminton continues to deliver a medal at the Olympic games since its debut at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

With the inclusion of today’s bronze medal, badminton has now delivered 10 medals at the Olympics.

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