Aaron Tai and Yap Roy King Win Arctic Open Super 500 in Their First Event Together
Aaron Tai and Yap Roy King won the Arctic Open Super 500 in Finland on their debut as a pair, without dropping a game all week.
Malaysia's newest men's doubles combination made a remarkable start. Aaron Tai and Yap Roy King, who had never competed together before, won the 2026 BWF Arctic Open in Vantaa, Finland, on Sunday (11 Oct), beating Chinese Taipei's Lai Po-yu and Tsai Fu-cheng 21-19, 21-19 in the final. They went through all five matches of the Super 500 event without dropping a single game.
Entering unseeded, the pair opened with a 21-12, 21-13 win over fellow Malaysians Tan Wee Kiong and Nur Azriyn, then got past Chinese Taipei's Lee Fang-chih and Lee Fang-jen, Thailand's Peeratchai and Pakkapon, and Denmark's Christian Faust Kjær and Rasmus Kjær before the final. The title is worth 9,200 world ranking points and US$39,500 (about RM161,450) in prize money for the pair.
The partnership was put together by national men's doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi as part of the Badminton Association of Malaysia's plan to try out new pairings ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Tai, 18, normally plays alongside Kang Khai Xing, so the Arctic Open result gives the coaching staff plenty to think about as they shape the doubles squad for the next Olympic cycle.
Source: The Rakyat Post.