PARIS, July 30 — National mixed doubles pair for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, have a better chance for the semi finals after a favourable draw.
The draw for the quarter finals, held at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena last night, will see the country’s only hope in the mixed doubles competition taking on South Korea’s Kim Won Ho-Jeong Na Eun, world No. 8, tomorrow.
Based on the head-to-head record, Tang Jie-Ee Wei have a slight edge over their Korean opponents as the Malaysians have won two of their three previous encounters.
After having lost to the Korean pair in their first meeting at the German Open, Tang Jie-Ee Wei registered consecutive victories at the Asian Championships and China Open in 2023.
A win against Won Ho-Na Eun will see the country’s mixed doubles, currently world No. 9, face South Korea’s leading mixed doubles pair Seo Seung Jae-Chae Yu Jung or Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet.
The remaining two quarter final matches will pit two China pairs, top seeds Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong and second seeds Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping, against each other, while Japan’s Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino will face Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai.
However, Malaysia’s top men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik could not crack China’s game and went down fighting against top seeds Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang in their last group match yesterday.
The 2022 world champions had to settle as Group A runners-up after losing 22-24, 14-21 to the China pair in their last group match after a 42-minute battle.
The reigning bronze medalists started their campaign in the group by beating world No. 18 Ben Lane-Sean Vendy of Great Britain 19-21, 21-16, 21-11 on Saturday, before defeating Canada’s Adam Dong-Nyl Yakura 21-10, 21-15 yesterday to confirm their quarter final berth.
In last night’s match, the world No. 4 pair put up a valiant effort in the first game to chase from 15-20 down to level 20-20, but fell short towards the end.
In the second set, Wei Keng-Chang, reigning Asian champions, stayed in control to extend their winning record against the Malaysians to seven in nine matches.
“We were enjoying the match without pressure, and treated it as a practice match as we still have a few more matches to go. Of course, we were hoping to get a different colour medal (after winning bronze in Tokyo 2020), but we are going to take it step by step,” Aaron said after the match.
Meanwhile, Wooi Yik said playing against the top seeds has always been an uphill task, and it is crucial for the national pair to work on their weaknesses ahead of the knockout stage that begins Thursday.
The defeat means Aaron-Wooi Yik will have a tougher draw in the quarter finals, as they will be up against one of the group champions.
The draw for the last-eight stage will be held after the conclusion of the men's doubles group stage today.
— Bernama
