Crucial few weeks for world champs to get act right

Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in action. - Filepic

PETALING JAYA: The World Tour Finals will take precedence for world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and they believe the next three weeks will be crucial for them to do well in Guangzhou next month.

The pair have an additional tournament to get some match practice but Aaron said the BrightUp Cup in Jakarta on Thursday and Friday is not in their priority list.

Independent pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, who have also qualified for the Finals (Dec 14-18) and men’s singles shuttlers Ng Tze Yong and Leong Jun Hao are the other Malaysians invited by the Indonesia Badminton Association (PBSI).

The tournament, used by the PBSI as a simulation tournament for the Finals, will also see Thailand’s Sitthikom Thammasin joining Indonesians Jonatan Christie, Anthony Ginting, Chico Aura as well as doubles combinations Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto and Bagas Maulana-Shohibul Fikri in action.

The singles matches will be played on Thursday while the doubles on Friday.

“It is just an invitational where we will play one or two exhibition matches. Our focus is on the World Tour Finals,” said Aaron.

“We’ve just got back from Europe and for now, we are concentrating on improving our physical condition.“We will be pushing for the next three weeks to also improve on our game play.”

Meanwhile, national doubles caching director Rexy Mainaky said the BrightUp Cup can still be a good place to gain some much-needed match practice.

“The event is not significant in terms of results but Aaron-Wooi Yik can get some good practice. The tournament atmosphere will be similar at the World Tour Finals, so something to learn from there,” said Rexy.

The Finals is the season finale under the Badminton World Federation tour events where the top eight players and pairs from the five events will qualify for Guangzhou.

A country is allowed a maximum of two entries in each event while the reigning world champions gain automatic berths.

The Australian Open in Sydney from Nov 15-20 will be the last qualifying event for the Finals.