PETALING JAYA: They are home from the city of love, with bronze medals around their necks - and all badminton men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik want now is some down time with their loved ones.
It won’t be a long break, though. The world No. 3 pair will have to be back in training soon for the Japan Open (Aug 20) and Korean Open (Aug 27).
Still, they were excited to be reunited with their families after arriving home from Paris yesterday.
“There are only a few days off before we start preparing for our next tournament, so it’s not much rest time,” said Aaron at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 1 (KLIA).
Wooi Yik is also looking forward to spending time with family, as he has been away from them a a month before departing for Paris.
“I just want to go home and enjoy the moment with my family and catch up with them. It’s been a while since I saw them. Even before Paris, I was staying at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM), so I’m grateful to be able to see them,” said Wooi Yik.
Aaron he feels being back in Malaysia after the Olympics will give him a second wind.
“It’s good to be back in Malaysia, we will get a boost to keep going further,” he said.
On their Olympic bronze medal, Wooi Yik said that the No. 1 Chinese pair of Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang and came out tops in the semi-final, despite the best effort of the Malaysians.
“Everyone goes for gold at the Olympics, us too. It’s so competitive and everyone analyses each other.
“They had a better strategy against us during the crucial points, no doubt they are still the best.
“But we did our part and our best, all that we trained for was implemented and we are satisfied with our performance,” he said.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, however, have a story they can even tell their grandchildren decades from now - the story of the monumental fightback they staged against Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the bronze medal playoff.
They came back from 16-20 down in the second game after losing the first game to force a rubber and then win the tie.
Now, they have set their sights on another comeback and win a shinier medal in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Aaron said the preparation needs to start now.
“There is still room for us to improve and if we want to fight in Los Angeles.
‘‘We have learned a lot from this Olympics as we came back from a lot of difficulties and finally got bronze again,” he said.
