PETALING JAYA: National men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi (pic) believes Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik know what they need to do to bounce back from their Malaysian Masters setback.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, who were runners-up last year, could not repeat that run after losing 18-21, 12-21 to fellow Malaysians Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani in 33 minutes in the semi-finals.
Herry admitted the defeat was painful as they fell short of their target, but stressed that it would not change their plans to go for two major titles this year — the World Championships in New Delhi in August and the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya in September.
“That has always been our target this year, the World Championships and the Asian Games, but especially the Asian Games. That is our main focus. The others are also important, but for the Asian Games, we want to be fully prepared to go for the gold,” said Herry.
Herry also felt that one of the main reasons Aaron-Wooi Yik came up short at home was because they were too eager to win, and that pressure affected their performance. At the same time, Herry was also pleased with the performance of Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King despite the pair missing out on a place in the final.
Arif-Roy King went down 19-21, 17-21 to Denmark’s Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard in the semi-finals.
Although the result was not what they had hoped for, Herry felt the pair had shown progress and hoped that they can continue improving.
“I can see improvement in the way Arif-Roy King played compared to last year. Their gameplay showed some of the things I had been hoping for. There has been progress, even though the result was not there,” added Herry.
Both pairs will next compete in the Singapore Open starting tomorrow.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, seeded second, will face France’s Christo Popov-Toma Junior Popov in the opening round, while Arif-Roy King will take on Japan’s Takumi Nomura-Yuichi Shimogami.
