A point to make and earn: Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik (left) must do well in the next few tournaments in order to be ranked higher at the Paris Olympics.
PETALING JAYA: A good seeding for men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik at the 2024 Paris Olympics will be important in their quest for another podium finish and this means they need to improve their current world rankings fast.
The Malaysians are currently ranked world No. 5 and Wooi Yik said the Asian Championships in Ningbo, China, from April 9-14 will offer plenty of ranking points as it is a super 1000 event similar to the just concluded All England.
Despite finishing runners-up to Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in Birmingham, Aaron-Wooi Yik could not break into the top four and this will be their next objective when they compete at the Asian Championships.
A top four seeding in Paris will help Aaron-Wooi Yik to avoid having to play any of the current leading pairs – world No. 1 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty of India, No. 2 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang of China and No. 3 Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae of South Korea – at the quarter-final stage in Paris.
“The Asian Championships will be important for us as we want to boost our world ranking in order to get a good seeding for the Paris Olympics. A good seeding will help us get a better draw in Paris,” said Wooi Yik.
“It’s a super 1000 tournament and we can earn a lot of points by doing well there.”
Besides the Asian Championships, Aaron-Wooi Yik should also do well in the Thailand Open from May 14-19, Malaysian Masters (May 21-26), Singapore Open (May 28-June 2) and the Australian Open (June 11-16) before the seedings are confirmed based on the July 2 world rankings.
Thus, Aaron believes it is important for them to perform consistently in several tournaments, starting with the Asian Championships.
“We need to be consistent and regain our momentum so that we can be better prepared for the Olympics.”
The Thomas Cup Finals in Chengdu, China, from May 27-June 5, which also provides almost as high points as the super 1000 tournaments, will also help Aaron-Wooi Yik to return to the top four.
