Doubles pairs reach career-high rankings right before home tourney

Ready to rumble: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (below) will be going all out to end the wait for a home title at the Malaysian Open from Jan 10-15.

PETALING JAYA: National men’s and women’s doubles pairs Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have received a timely boost ahead of the Malaysian Open from Jan 10-15 at the Axiata Arena.

Reigning world champions Aaron-Wooi Yik reached a career-high No. 3 in the latest world rankings while French Open winners Pearly-Thinaah climbed to No. 6.

Aaron-Wooi Yik are now behind only Indonesian pairs Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto (No. 1) and veterans Mohd Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan (No. 2) and are ahead of Japan’s 2021 world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (No. 4).

Breaking into the world’s top 3 could be just the right tonic for Aaron-Wooi Yik as they seek to end their World Tour title drought in the prestigious home tourney.

Pearly-Thinaah will also go into the tournament with a spring in their step after achieving their career-best ranking.

While happy with the players’ achievement, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) high performance director Dr Tim Jones feels that they need to strive for more.

“Its good to see our players achieve these rankings but we are not satisfied with this,” he said.“We have discussed with them and have all agreed that they need to aim higher.

“Preparing well for the Malaysian Open is the most important thing now,” said Jones.

Jones also feels that the passionate home support could prove crucial for the players.

“This is one of our major tournaments for this year, so doing well for our fans is really important for us.

“The home crowd at the previous edition made a big difference to our players and we are hoping for more of the same,” added Jones.

Aaron-Wooi Yik and Pearly-Thinaah will be going all out to end the wait for a home title winner since former men’s singles great Datuk Lee Chong Wei captured the crown in 2018.

The last men’s doubles pair to clinch the title are Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah in 2014.

In the women’s doubles, it has been 58 years since a home pair triumphed with Teoh Siew Yong and Rosalind Ang emerging champions in 1965.

Aaron-Wooi Yik will begin their campaign against Taiwan’s world No. 38 Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan.

Meanwhile, Pearly-Thinaah have a tricky opening round match against Bulgarian sisters Gabriela Stoeva-Stefani Stoeva (No. 14).