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Danish double sends ex-World Champions crashing out of All England tournament

Frederik Sogaard and Rasmus Kjaer had a superb start to their All England campaign
Frederik Sogaard and Rasmus Kjaer had a superb start to their All England campaignHOW HWEE YOUNG / EPA / Profimedia
Frederik Sogaard and Rasmus Kjaer played a great match when they advanced to the second round of the All England badminton tournament in Birmingham after beating the Malaysian former World Championships Aaron Chia og Wooi Yik Soh 21-16, 16-21, 21-18.

The Danes grabbed the initiative from the start not least thanks to the fact that Sogaard dominated Aaron Chia at the net.  The densely built Malaysian is among the world's absolute best net players, but Sogaard played excellently.

Sogaard was able to dominate Chia because Kjaer applied good pressure from the backcourt, which challenged the Malaysian defensive.

The first set seemed decided when Danes led 17-9 before the Malaysian favorites managed to put points on the scoreboard but it was too little too late. 

In the second set, several errors crept into the Danish game. They managed to maintain contact with the Malaysians until 13-14, but in the end of the set Sogaard and Kjaer became too passive and made too many easy mistakes. 

In the final set, the Danes regained their composure no less thanks to Rasmus Kjaer, who from the back showed enormous cleverness and technical finesse on several occasions.

The Danes led 19-13 but then Sogaard and Kjaer lost their grip on the game allowing the Malaysians to cut the deficit to 18-19 but then Kjaer stepped back into character and led the Danes to seal a terrific win.