Out for revenge: Aaron Chia (left) and Soh Wooi Yik will play Indonesians Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin in the first round of the Asian Championships. — AFP
PETALING JAYA: World No. 2 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are set to feel the heat right from the start in the Asian Championships in Dubai from April 25-30 but they have been told to play it cool.
The Asian meet provides the toughest contest as far as the men’s doubles are concerned, and Aaron-Wooi Yik don’t need any reminders as they play Indonesians Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin in the first round.
They still remember the painful defeat to the pair when they were knocked out in the first round of the All-England in Birmingham last month.
If they win, Aaron-Wooi Yik may also meet Olympic champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin of Taiwan and rising young China pair Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang en route to reaching the quarter-finals.
Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) high performance director Dr. Tim Jones wants the world champions Aaron-Wooi Yik to toughen up for the continental event.
Jones admits that any tournament that involves top Asian pairs is going to be tough.
“Aaron and Wooi Yik have a few tough match-ups in the draw for the Asian Championships, but now any draw where the top pairs from Asia are involved, it will be difficult,” said Jones.
“As the second seeds, they should get to the weekend matches at least.
“They’ll have to play very well to get there, but I believe they can do it.”
Both did well last year by reaching the final before going down to Pramudya Kusumawardana-Yeremia Rambitan.
The European tournaments had not been kind to Aaron-Wooi Yik as they were knocked out in the second round by Japan’s world No. 24 Akira Koga-Taichi Saito in the German and Swiss Opens.
Aaron-Wooi Yik have reached the final of a Badminton World Federation (BWF) world tour once – the Indian Open in January, in six tournaments this year.
The duo would want to try and reach the semi-finals and beyond as urged by Jones in Dubai to begin the Olympic qualification period with confidence.
The Asian Championships is the last tournament before the Olympic qualifiers begins next month.
Another Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) pair Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun will return to the world tour since playing in the Indian Open in January and will play Thailand’s Chaloempon Chaloernkitamorn-Nanthakarn Yordphaisong of Thailand in the first round.
Barring any upset, they are expected to play against former world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan in the second round.
Independent pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi have a tricky first-round match against M.R. Arjun-Dhruv Kapila of India.
The eighth-seeded Malaysians are expected to play All-England champions and world No. 1 Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in the last eight.
