Close battle: Aaron Chia (right) plays a shot along with Soh Wooi Yik against Indias Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy during the Indian Open semi-finals. — AFP
PETALING JAYA: Will men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik be considered for selection in the Asia Team Championships?
National coaching director Rexy Mainaky is still weighing up his options for the team meet from Feb 13-18 in Setia Alam as he may name the back-up squad.
On current form, world No. 4 Aaron-Wooi Yik certainly stand a chance to be included after a mixed outing in the Malaysian and Indian Opens.
The pair reached the quarter-finals of the home Open before going down 21-16, 18-21, 13-21 to South Korea’s reigning world champions Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae.
Aaron-Wooi Yik then went one better in the Indian tourney before losing out to home favourtites Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty 18-21, 14-21 in the last four at the K.D Jadhav Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday.
Aaron-Wooi Yik are set to slip one rung in the rankings after the defeat as they had reached the final in last year’s edition before finishing runners-up to China’s Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang.
The former need to remain in the top four to be seeded in the Paris Olympics but there are few tournaments in March where they can make up for lost opportunities.
The Asia team meet, which is the qualifier for the Thomas Cup Finals in May, also offers Olympic ranking points.
For now though, the pair’s inclusion is still up in the air.
Only professional men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia has been confirmed in the team so far. The closing date is on Jan 26.
“We are still finalising the team and have not decided whether to include Aaron-Wooi Yik or not,” said men’s doubles coach Tan Bin Shen.
“For now, Aaron-Wooi Yik’s next tournaments will be the French Open (Mar 5-10) and All-England (Mar 12-17).”
If Aaron-Wooi Yik are not included in the team, a spot for others such as Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri could be open.
Meanwhile, Aaron is looking all positive after a shuttle hit his eye en route to his defeat with Wooi Yik to Satwiksairaj and Chiraq in India. Chirag had accidentally smashed at Aaron’s eye with the scores locked at 13-13 in the second game.
The match then shifted in the Indian pair’s favour and they did not look back to claim the win.
Said Aaron: “While the hit may have affected me a little, it’s not the main reason we lost. We started well but in the second, we failed to stay in control.”
Meanwhile, Chirag felt bad about hitting Aaron in the eye.
“I felt bad for Aaron. A few days ago, coach Mathias Boe had hit me in the eye and I could not see for 10 minutes,” said Chirag.
“I know how bad it is. Luckily, I think he was okay in a couple of minutes, but that probably changed the rhythm in our way.”
It was Aaron-Wooi Yik’s third straight loss to world No. 2 Satwiksairaj-Chirag in 11 encounters after also going down to the latter in the final of the Indonesian Open and last four of the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.
