Soon Kit: It’ll be good younger pairs get to go to Tokyo

PETALING JAYA: Former men’s doubles shuttler Cheah Soon Kit prefers the younger pairs to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Soon Kit, who won the Olympic silver with Yap Kim Hock in Atlanta in 1996, believes the experience would hold them in good stead for the next Olympics.

Currently it’s a three-horse race between Rio 2016 silver medallists Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (world No. 10) and two young pairs – Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (No. 14) and Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (No. 21).

A country can only send a maximum of two pairs to Japan, provided both are in the top eight of the world rankings at the end of the Olympic qualification period in April next year.

“If the younger pairs can get to the Olympics it will be good because they will be better prepared for the next Games (Paris 2024), ” said Soon Kit.

“At least they have an idea of what’s it like to compete at the Olympics and they will know what to expect in the next four years.

“As they are still young, time is on their side compared to V Shem-Wee Kiong (both in their 30s).

“Of course we still don’t know if we will even see two pairs qualifying but I’m optimistic that we can.”

He added that Aaron-Wooi Yik and Yew Sin-Ee Yi, who are still in their 20s, have a lot of work to do to qualify.

Both pairs got off to a flying start in 2019 with the former finishing as runners-up at the All-England Open in March while the latter also came in second at the Malaysian Masters in January.

However, since then they have yet to perform to their true capabilities.

“Lately they have not been able to perform as well as they did at the start of the year, ” added Soon Kit.

“Once you reach a certain level, your opponents will be out for your scalp.

“You must analyse your game. Work on your weaknesses and strength. Implement new ideas, strategies and tactics... there’s a lot of things to work on.

“I went through all this when I was playing. It was my ambition to become an Olympic champion and that drove me to keep on improving all the time.

“Of course there will be heartbreak along the way. We came close to win the gold but it was still a huge achievement for us.”