KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 -- Malaysia's men's doubles pair, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, clinched their maiden Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) title tonight after defeating China's Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi.

Although Chen-Liu had edged out the Malaysians in their most recent encounter at the Denmark Open, the overall head-to-head still favoured Chia-Soh, who led with two wins out of three meetings before this.

The final proved to be a thrilling contest. Both pairs played at a blistering pace, keeping the scores tight until Chia-Soh took a slender lead into the mid-game interval.

A flurry of attacking plays kept the crowd entertained, and the pressure appeared to get to Chen-Liu, who made a string of errors that handed the Malaysians the ...