Giving their all: Aaron Chia (right) and Soh Wooi Yik in action against China’s Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang during their men’s doubles final of the Indian Open in New Delhi. — AFP
PETALING JAYA: National men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik need to quickly find a formula to end their winless run against China’s Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang.
And head coach Tan Bin Shen has faith in his charges to fix the problem soon.
Reigning world champions Aaron-Wooi Yik could face a re-match against the Chinese pair in the Indonesian Masters starting today in Jakarta, just days after their painful 21-14, 19-21, 18-21 loss to the latter in the Indian Open final.
They were beaten on Sunday in New Delhi and the defeat meant that the world No. 3 Aaron-Wooi Yik have yet to pull the rug from under the world No. 11 Weikeng-Wang Chang after three meetings and are still without a World Tour title.
The former had also come out second best to the latter in last year’s Indonesian Masters and French Open.
The loss in India hurt more as Aaron-Wooi Yik had won the first game comfortably and had led 12-7 in the decider before Weikeng-Wang Chang staged a remarkable comeback to deny them.
Barring any upsets, the two pairs are expected to clash in the second round.
On the narrow loss in India, Bin Shen said: “In the third game, Aaron-Wooi Yik were leading but couldn’t finish off the game. They tried to catch up when the Chinese pair overtook them and broke their rhythm.
“This is part of the process in the game. Aaron-Wooi Yik need to learn from this experience and handle the situation better next time.”
Bin Shen wants his charges to be ready for whatever challenges thrown at them by their opponents after this.
“We will look into strategies and so on but it’s more important for Aaron-Wooi Yik to be prepared for whatever challenges that come their way.
“Opponents can also change their strategy in a match. So, Aaron-Wooi Yik need to focus on each point,” added Bin Shen.
Overall, Bin Shen was fairly satisfied with his charges’ performance in India after they had rebounded strongly from their second-round exit in the Malaysian Open.
“They managed to play well in the semi-finals to beat Indonesia’s world No. 1 and Malaysian Open champions Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto. So, I think overall, they did all right,” he concluded.
In the Indonesian Masters, Aaron-Wooi Yik will play a pair from the qualifying round in their opening match.
Meanwhile, Weikeng-Wang Chang will meet Germany’s world No. 17 Mark Lamsfuss-Marvin Seidel in the first round.
Independent pair and world No. 40 Tan Kian Meng-Tan Wee Kiong will open their campaign against India’s world No. 31 Krishna Prasad-Vishnuvardhan Panjala.
FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) bt Viktor Axelsen (Den) 22-20, 10-21, 21-12.
Men’s doubles: Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang (Chn) bt Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (Mas) 14-21, 21-19, 21-18.
Women’s singles: An Se-young (Kor) bt Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) 15-21, 21-16, 21-12.
Women’s doubles: Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida (Jpn) w.o Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (Chn).
Mixed doubles: Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino (Jpn) w.o Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping (Chn).
(Note: Yilyu and Qingchen were reported sick due to diarrhoea).
