Wei Chong-Kai Wun end Malaysia's 12-year drought [WATCH]
KUALA LUMPUR: Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun ended the nation's 12-year drought at the Malaysia Masters by upstaging seniors Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in a pulsating final at the Axiata Arena today.
World No. 8 Wei Chong-Kai Wun took advantage of an exhausted world No. 3 Aaron-Wooi Yik to carve out a 21-12, 15-21, 21-16 win in 50 minutes to capture their first crown on home soil.
The victory made up for Wei Chong-Kai Wun finishing runners-up at the 2023 Malaysia Masters, but most importantly, it was the country's first title in the Super 500 tournament since Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah's triumph in 2013.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun had bagged three Super 300 titles (2022 Syed Modi International and 2022-2023 Taiwan Opens) and the Super 500 Indonesia Masters in January before today's victory at the Axiata Arena.
At the other end, Aaron-Wooi Yik were gutted in their bid to achieve an unprecedented hat-trick by a Malaysian pair on the world stage, having won the Badminton Asia Championships in China last month and the Thailand Open last week.
After playing back-to-back finals, the mental and physical exhaustion was evident though Aaron-Wooi Yik produced a gritty performance, only to lose to their equally determined teammates.
The close battle was not entirely surprising as the head-to-head record of the two pairs stood at 2-2 with their last encounter going Wei Chong-Kai Wun's way in the Indonesia Masters semi-final (21-18, 21-15) in January.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun had also beaten Aaron-Wooi Yik (21-11, 21-18) in the first round of the 2023 Arctic Open.
Aaron-Wooi Yik had won 23-21, 21-10 at the 2023 India Open first round and 21-23, 21-17, 21-16 at the Denmark Open second round.
Wei Chong said: "After winning the Indonesia Masters, our results dropped and the same things happened in previous years whenever we won titles or reached finals.
"Discussing and communicating with each other have made things better. We knew their game will be affected a little (Aaron-Wooi Yik were tired) but we didn't think about becoming champions but focused on our own performance."
Kai Wun said they are adapting well to national men's doubles coach Herry IP's training.
"We are slowly getting used to coach Herry's gameplay and we were also mentally prepared to do better after losing (in the second round) last week at the Thailand Open."
Aaron admitted that Wei Chong-Kai Wun played better than them.
"We also made a lot of unforced errors. It (the result) is acceptable but there is a lot to improve on."
Wooi Yik said: "Our condition was not 100 per cent but it was not the reason for us to lose today."
RESULTS
FINALS: Malaysians unless stated
Men's singles: Li Shi Feng (Chn) bt K. Srikanth (Ind) 21-11, 21-9
Doubles: Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun bt Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik 12-21, 21-15, 21-16
Women's singles: Wang Zhi Yi (Chn) bt Han Yue (Chn) 13-21, 21-13, 21-18
Doubles: Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Jia Yi Fan-Zhang Shu Xian (Chn) 21-17, 21-18
Mixed doubles: Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping (Chn) bt Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin (Chn) 21-17, 14-21, 21-16
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