China’s Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang are world champions. The third seeds delivered a clear 21–17, 21–16 victory over Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik to claim the men’s doubles crown at the BWF World Championships in New Delhi.
A final settled in 35 minutes
The match at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium began tensely, the pairs locked at 13–13 in the opening game. Liang and Wang then stepped up their aggression, pulling away to secure the first set. In the second, the Chinese pair built an early five-point lead at 9–4 and later extended the margin to 18–11.
Chia and Soh, the fourth seeds, mounted a late charge to close the gap to 16–18. Liang and Wang held their nerve, winning the last three points to finish the contest in 35 minutes.
From bronze to gold
This was a breakthrough moment after near misses. Liang and Wang took bronze at the 2023 World Championships in Copenhagen and again in 2025 in Ningbo, where Chia and Soh beat them in the semi-finals. Sunday’s result reversed that pattern and upgraded their medal to gold.
The title also spared China a winless tournament, after the team collected silver in both mixed doubles and women’s doubles earlier in the session. Liang and Wang had already shown their comfort in the New Delhi venue by winning the India Open there in January.
A pair built for the big stage
The duo rose to world No. 1 in October 2023 and first signalled their promise by winning the Japan Open in 2022. Their path through this draw included a quarter-final defeat of home favourites Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and a tight three-game semi-final against Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.
In the city where they started the year with a trophy, Liang and Wang now leave as world champions.
