PETALING JAYA: Shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik have the quality to deliver in major tournaments but their approach is missing something extra.
And national coaching director Rexy Mainaky wants Aaron-Wooi Yik to sacrifice more in their bid to stand on the podium in another upcoming major event – their first Asian Games outing in Hangzhou, China, from Sept 23-Oct 10.
The defending champions had to settle for a bronze medal at the World Championships in Copenhagen after losing 21-23, 13-21 to Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae of South Korea in the semi-finals at Royal Arena on Saturday.
Min-hyuk-Seung-jae went on to set up a meeting with world No. 11 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the final.
With just less than a month away from Asiad, Rexy wants the duo to raise the bar.
“If we want to win a medal, even gold at the Asian Games, both the coaches and players must sacrifice more to make it happen,” said Rexy.
“It’s about sacrificing everything to focus more on badminton ... and avoid many things that are not related to badminton.”
Rexy did not elaborate on what are the non-badminton related things, but is expecting their total devotion to the game. Rexy knows what is needed, having guided Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong to win the 2006 Asian gold in his first stint as a Malaysian coach before.
“At this world meet, the Koreans stepped up but it’s too early to say whether they will continue to dominate because the level in the men’s doubles is all equal.”
While Rexy has thrown the gauntlet to his prized pair, the world No. 4 Aaron-Wooi Yik admitted that they lacked the killer instinct that saw them let slip a golden chance to enter their second consecutive final in the worlds.
Said Aaron: “We had a big lead at 19-15 but we gave away points easily. During the crucial points, we have to learn how to be calm and focus more.”
The same frustration was echoed by Wooi Yik too.
“I felt we had a big chance to reach the final again but we could not take it. Our opponents were really good at attacking and the first three shots. The don’t easily make mistakes and are very stable and these are their strengths. We need to learn from this.”
“We did win a bronze but we are disappointed as we had hoped to deliver more.
“We want to say sorry to all Malaysians but we will try again.”
Aaron-Wooi Yik may not have won any Open titles since they forged partnership in November, 2017 but they have been the most dependable pair in major events.
They have won bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games; gold and bronze at the world; bronze at the Sudirman Cup and Commonwealth Games; gold at the SEA Games; and runners-up finish at the 2019 All-England and 2022 Asian Championships.
Aaron has vowed to continue working hard ahead of their first Asiad.
“Past is past and we need to look forward. Our next major target is the Asian Games next month. We will continue fighting hard to do well there.”
But first, Aaron-Wooi Yik will compete in the back-to-back China Open (Sept 5-10) and Hong Kong Open (Sept 12-17). In the China tourney, the duo will face another top Korean pair Choi Sol-gyu-Kim Won-ho in the first round.
