PETALING JAYA: Don’t sweat on head-to-head records.
This is the advice given by former shuttler Tan Boon Heong (pic) to current top national men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.
Boon Heong believes that having inferior head-to-head records against certain pairs will not be a barrier for Aaron-Wooi Yik to win the country’s elusive gold in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In the recent World Tour Finals, the duo had been pitted in the same group with three pairs that have superior win-loss records against them and went on to lose all their matches in three game.
China’s world No. 1 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang (6-1), world No. 8 Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi (4-2) and Japan’s 2021 world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (7-2) all hold good head-to-head advantage over Aaron-Wooi Yik and are likely to cause them problems in the Olympics as well.
Boon Heong though feels the Olympics will be an entirely different ball game.
“Aaron-Wooi Yik’s chances in the Olympics will not depend on their results in the Tour Finals,” said Boon Heong.
“Head-to-head records does not matter when it comes to the Olympics.
“For instance, Koo (Kien Keat) and I had never lost to Indonesia’s Hendra (Setiawan) and Markis (Kido) in four previous meetings but went down to them in the quarter-finals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“The pressure is so much higher in the Olympics as it is only held once in four years.
“Just like every other pair, Aaron-Wooi Yik do have a chance to win the gold. It could also come down to some luck,” added Boon Heong.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, who will end the year as No. 4 in the world after dropping one rung in the latest rankings, will be out to get off to a good start in 2024 when they compete in the Malaysian Open from Jan 9-14 in Bukit Jalil.
They will open their campaign against Denmark’s world No. 22 Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard.
