Staying alert: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik sweating it out during training at Axiata Arena .—AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star.
KUALA LUMPUR: Former men's doubles champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik may be deprived of sleep but it's not a problem.
Aaron-Wooi Yik showed their intent to capture back-to-back titles by turning up for a training session at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil on Tuesday despite only returning from Bangkok late, a day after capturing the Thailand Open.
Aaron-Wooi Yik were joined by women’s doubles champions Pearly Tan. M. Thinaah as both pairs brushed aside fatigue to test the courts before the Malaysian Masters starts today.
The world No. 5 pair defeated Denmark’s surprise finalists William Kryger-Christian Faust to win the Thailand tourney while Pearly-Thinaah beat South Korea’s Jeong Na-eun-Lee Yeon-woo to make it a memorable double for Malaysia.
"Our flight from Bangkok arrived at around midnight yesterday (Sunday). We did not have enough sleep but we already planned to train today to get some feel of the courts here," said Aaron.
"We can still rest tomorrow (on Tuesday) as our first round match will only be on Wednesday."
No home men’s pair have won the title since Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah triumphed in 2013 but expectations have increased on Aaron-Wooi Yik to go all the way and end the long wait after the duo also won the Asian Championships last month in Ningbo, China.
The duo are in confident mood but are taking a cautious approach.
"It feels great to be back here and of course we want to perform well but it’s not easy to win back-to-back titles," said Wooi Yik.
"We know the fans here will expect us to win and we, ourselves hope to bring our best game on court.
"We want to enjoy our game. For us, it’s not just about winning or losing but our performance matters too."
Aaron-Wooi Yik have a tricky opening round match against Taiwan’s world No.17 Wang Chi-lin-Chiu Hsiang-chieh.
Chi-lin-Hsiang-chieh underlined their threat when they won their first World Tour title at home in the Taiwan Open in Taipei two weeks ago.
Both Aaron-Wooi Yik and Taiwanese duo are evenly matched based on the head-to-head records where both pairs have beaten each other once.
"In men’s doubles, it’s always 50-50 and winning depends on performance on the day. We have some advantage due to our home crowd, so we want to use this as motivation," said Wooi Yik.
"We have played the Taiwanese pair twice and it will not be easy this time. We have to be well prepared."
Meanwhile, Malaysia will also be represented in the men’s doubles by Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi, Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hon Jian, Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong, Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing and Fazriq Razif-Bryan Jeremy Goonting.
