Overwhelming joy: Malaysia's Aaron Chia, left, and Soh Wooi Yik celebrate after defeating Denmark's Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen during their men's doubles bronze medal match at the Paris Olympics. - AP
PETALING JAYA: Doubles shuttler Aaron Chia has described his bronze medal feat with Soh Wooi Yik as their greatest comeback win in their career.
Aaron-Wooi Yik were on the verge of defeat at 16-20 in the second game but pulled off a spectacular comeback by saving four match points to eventually beat an equally fired-up Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 16-21, 22-20, 21-19 in a 69-minute third-place match in the Olympic Games at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle on Sunday (August 4).
It was Aaron-Wooi Yik's second bronze medal after their 2021 Tokyo Games' feat and a first medal for Malaysia at the Paris Olympic Games.
Aaron is just thrilled to deliver the goods.
"I think this is the greatest comeback win for us in a big stage compared to our win at the world championships," said Aaron, who won the word title with Wooi Yik in 2022.
"We are proud as Malaysians, and proud to have won the country's first medal.
"Even though it's not a gold that we wanted but we are happy to deliver another bronze. It's just as special as the first bronze we won at the last Olympics."
A delighted Wooi Yik also added that they refused to give up even when they were staring at a defeat in the second game.
"We just did not want to give up, we kept encouraging and trusting each other, and tried our level best to minimise our errors," said Wooi Yik.
"We kept motivating each other and once we reached 20-20, we just believed that we could win it.
"But credit to the Danish pair, they played well."
Coach Tan Bin Shen was proud of the boys
"Aaron and Wooi Yik prepared really well for this Games. They really wanted to win this time, they put a lot of effort and sacrificed a lot," said Bin Shen.
"Even during the tense situation when they were trailing 16-20, our players played bravely. It's not easy but they turned it around. I'm proud of them."
