Breaking through adversity! China's rising star men's doubles duo makes a stunning comeback to claim the World Championship title!

On the 22nd, Beijing time, the Super 750-level India Open badminton tournament concluded in New Delhi. China's men's doubles pair, Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang, advanced to the final day as the sole representatives after two of their teammates withdrew. There, they staged a stunning comeback against the No. 3 seeds and newly crowned World Championship winners, Soh Wooi Yik and Aaron Chia, clinching one gold and one silver medal across the year's first two high-profile events.

The Chinese team had originally advanced to three finals that day, but on the eve of the competition, both the top-seeded women’s doubles pair Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan and the No. 4-seeded mixed doubles duo Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping withdrew due to physical discomfort. Earlier, two prominent Chinese women’s singles players, Wang Zhiyi and Chen Yufei, had also pulled out one after the other because of acute gastroenteritis.

As a result, Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang became the sole Chinese players competing on the final day. The "Liang-Wang" pair, currently ranked 11th in the world, have been in impressive form this season, making a standout debut earlier this week at the Malaysia Open—where they stunned several top contenders to reach their first-ever Super 1000-level tournament final, ultimately finishing as runners-up. After shifting their focus to New Delhi, they continued their dominant run, once again defeating formidable opponents such as the world No. 2 duo Ahsan/Setiawan and former world No. 1s Gideon/Sukamuljo, securing back-to-back appearances in the finals of high-profile events.

Last week’s lackluster performance didn’t faze Malaysia’s pair, Soh Wooi Yik and Teo Ee Yi, as they bounced back strongly this week, rallying to upset the reigning world No. 1 duo Alfian and Adianto in the semifinals and advancing to the final. In a thrilling match, “Soh-Wooi” took an early lead, cruising through the first game to secure a convincing 21-14 victory. However, in the second game, Liang Weifeng and Wang Chang found themselves trailing at one point, only to see their opponents claw back to level the score at 19-all. Fortunately, the Malaysian pair managed to seize crucial points at the right moments, edging out the tie-break 21-19 to force a decisive third game.

In the deciding game, the "Liang-Wang" pair initially found themselves trailing. However, playing steadily and strategically, they rallied to score six consecutive points in the middle of the game, taking the lead. Despite missing three match points later on, they managed to secure a narrow 21-18 victory. Thanks to this hard-fought win, Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang will also break into the top 10 in next week's world rankings.