Their exit left Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani in contention for a spot in the final. If they succeed, they would be the first Malaysians to enter a final of the RM11 million BWF World Tour finals.

Aaron-Wooi Yik had beaten He Ji Ting-Ren Xiang Yu in their opening match in three games but the withdrawal of the Chinese pair after that meant that all their matches were voided under a BWF rule.

As a result, with only one win against Muhammad Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto in three games yesterday, Aaron-Wooi Yik needed to win or take a game off another Indonesian pair Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Moh Reza Pahlevi in their final Group B match today.

However, the Malaysians did not live up to expectations and went down in straight games of 21-16,21-16 in 41 minutes.

As a result, Fajar-Rian qualified for the semi-final and will meet  Sze Fei- Izzuddin while Sabar-Reza also made it to the semi-finals from the group, and will meet Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen who topped Group A.

Under the round robin format, if the number of points for a win are tied, the difference between the total number of games won and lost will decide on the qualifier. If they are tied on this too, the difference between points for and against will be the decider.

Fajar-Rian won a total of three games and lost two, giving them a difference of one. Sabar-Reza won two and lost two, or a zero difference. As for Aaron-Wooi Yik, they won two but lost three, giving them a difference of negative one.

Sze Fei-Izzuddin qualified for the semi-finals after labouring for 40 minutes before defeating Taiwan’s double Olympic gold medallists Lee Yang-Wang Chih Lin 24-22, 21-12 in their final Group A tie to finish as the runners-up in the group.