On the move: Back-up men doubles pair Tee Kai Wun (left) and Man Wei Chong are ready to make a name for themselves. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
PETALING JAYA: It is only natural for rising pairs to look up to the seniors but men’s doubles Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun want to establish their own identify on the global stage.
While they admire top pair and world No. 2 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and want to achieve great things like them, they know that are some limitations.
The 24-year-old Wei Chong said they had learnt a lot from Aaron-Wooi Yik but feels imitating everything that the senior pair do may not necessarily work for them.
“We have learnt a lot from them (Aaron-Wooi Yik) and they are an inspiration. But the most important thing is that we need to find our own strengths and define our own style of play,” said Wei Chong.
“Every pair is not the same, so we cannot follow everything like the way they do.
“We try to use some of things but some works and some don’t. So, we need to find our own style to be effective.”
Aaron-Wooi Yik became the doubles icon in the country after becoming the first to win a world title in badminton for Malaysia in 2021.
The world No. 22 Wei Chong-Kai Wun were inspired by Aaron-Wooi Yik’s achievement and they started to show progress on the international stage.
A same sentiment was also raised by national coaching director Rexy Mainaky as he had been urging Wei Chong-Kai Wun to add more variation in their game. He wants them to attack or defend with the purpose to winning matches.
Rexy believed that playing a straight forward game will make it difficult to match the top pairs.
“Wei Chong-Kai Wun must force their opponents out of the comfort zone and make things difficult, be it in attack or defence,” said Rexy.
“They cannot defend blindly or attack without a game plan . If you do that against top pairs, it is very hard to make a breakthrough.”
The duo won Taiwan Open for the last two years and have made the finals of the Malaysian Masters and Arctic Open this year.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun’s next stop is the Japan Masters in Kumamoto from Nov 14-19.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun will meet compatriot Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi in the first round and a win could pit them against Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi Of China if they survive the tricky opening test.
