Going steady: Aaron Chia (right) and Soh Wooi Yik clinched the Denmark Open title in Odense two weeks ago.
PETALING JAYA: Leading Malaysian pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik have achieved success on all fronts and are pursuing their next goal of becoming the world No. 1 in the men’s doubles.
However, the ascend to the No. 1 spot will be done in a relaxed manner as Aaron doesn’t want it to disrupt their performance on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Tour.
After becoming Malaysia’s first world champions in badminton in Tokyo last year and also winning a bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Aaron-Wooi Yik added another podium finish at the Asian Games in Hangzhou where they secured a bronze in September.
The monkey was off Aaron-Wooi Yik’s backs when their wait for a first BWF tour title ended after clinching the Denmark Open in Odense two weeks ago.
The title also saw Aaron-Wooi Yik moving up the ranks as the world No. 2, a position they had last occupied in February this year, and moved closer in terms of points to current No. 1 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang of China.
“Becoming the world No. 1 is also one of our targets to achieve but we don’t want to put ourselves under pressure chasing it,” said Aaron.
“But we will fight for it, do our best and we have always believed (with patience), every good things will come.”
The keen competition also saw Indian pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty becoming the No. 1 after winning the Asiad gold in Hangzhou but it only lasted for five weeks as Weikeng-Wang Chang have unseated them for the top spot on Tuesday.
Weikeng-Wang Chang (89,991 points) are just marginally ahead of Aaron-Wooi Yik (88,164) and a solid performance from the Malaysians could see them becoming the No. 1 for the first time.
The last Malaysian pair to hit the top spot were Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong in November 2016 which was made possible after their silver-medal winning performance at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
National director of coaching Rexy Mainaky said becoming world No. 1 will also boost Aaron-Wooi Yik’s confidence and morale and will help to improve their performance in tournaments.
“They have won the world title and other honours and they should also try to become the world No. 1,” Rexy had said on several occasions.
“It will definitely boost their confidence and offers the feel-good factor of being the top combination around.”
Aaron-Wooi Yik’s next tournament will be the Japan Masters in Kumamoto from Nov 14-19.
