Shuttlers seek motivation from Avicii’s song to jive up the podium

Inspirational: Malaysia’s doubles player Soh Wooi Yik relating how the song The Nights has united the doubles players and boosted their morale for the Thomas Cup campaign at the Impact Arena in Bangkok yesterday. — Bernama

THERE are songs that can motivate an athlete.

And for the Malaysian doubles shuttlers, it’s the catchy tune of The Nights by the late Avicii.

Olympic Games bronze medallist Soh Wooi Yik said the song had bonded all the doubles players in their mission to bring back the Thomas Cup after a 30-year spell.

“We sing it every day, it’s our song. It motivates us,” said the 24-year-old Wooi Yik after their first official training session at the Impact Arena.

“The chorus says, ‘One day, you’ll leave this world behind. So live a life you will remember’. It’s inspiring and makes us strong as a team.’’

Wooi Yik and the doubles players are determined to make this year’s Thomas Cup, starting tomorrow, a memorable one.

“This is my third Thomas Cup outing and we are close as a team. The Thomas Cup is a big event for our country and we want to try and win it,” said Wooi Yik.

In his debut in Bangkok four years ago, he only played in one group tie with Aaron Chia.

Aaron was teamed up with Teo Ee Yi in a tactical move to catch their opponents by surprise.

He played a more prominent role with Aaron at the last edition in Aarhus but Malaysia did not clear the quarter-finals after losing to Indonesia.

Besides Wooi Yik-Aaron, the others in the team are Ong Yew Sin-Ee Yi, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and Chia Weijie.

As the first doubles, Wooi Yik-Aaron have a huge task to stand tall in a competitive field. Their first test will be against world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan in their group tie on May 11.

“Hoki-Kobayashi are a strong pair. Their defence is solid and they are quite an all-rounded pair. Our styles are different but we have our advantages against them too,” said Wooi Yik.

Wooi Yik is also ready to put his Asian Championships disappointment with Aaron behind them. They were on the brink of winning their first Open title but lost to Indonesia’s Pramudya Kusumawardana-Yeremia Erich in the final in Manila last week.

“We played well until the final but I could not control my emotion during the title match. It’s something that I need to fix,” he said.

“Overall, we showed improvement. I believe, if I keep working at it, Aaron and I will surely win our first individual title in the near future. Now, we want to focus on the team event,” added Wooi Yik, who was not born when his uncle Soo Beng Kiang was in the team that won the Thomas Cup in 1992.