PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi admitted it was not an easy decision to leave Soh Wooi Yik and Man Wei Chong out of Malaysia’s squad for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games from Sept 19-Oct 4.
Wooi Yik-Wei Chong, who have only recently been paired together, were among the notable omissions from the Asian Games, along with men’s singles independent Lee Zii Jia.
Herry said he was faced with a dilemma when tasked with selecting the two men’s doubles pairs for the Asian Games, especially as the decision would also have an impact on the team’s long-term plans leading up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
At the time the final squad had to be submitted, Wei Chong was still recovering from a serious knee injury, making it difficult for the coaches to include the pair.
All national sports associations, including the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), were required to submit their final entries to the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) by July 1.
No changes are allowed after the deadline except under exceptional circumstances, subject to approval from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
“The management, including Datuk Seri Lee Chong Wei (performance committee chairman), gave me a deadline to submit the names of the players for the Asian Games.
“I sat down with coaching director Rexy Mainaky to decide who should go. At that time, Wei Chong was still injured, so it wasn’t possible for us to include him because he was still recovering.
“We held a meeting and decided to nominate Sze Fei-Izzuddin. That left one more pair from BAM, and we had to think carefully because the decision also involved our long-term plans leading up to the Olympics.”
Wooi Yik won the men’s doubles bronze medal alongside Aaron Chia at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. Herry had previously set his sights on Asian Games gold with Aaron and Wooi Yik, but the pair were split after going a year without a title since winning last year’s Singapore Open.
Aaron will instead partner Tee Kai Wun, who is set to make his Asian Games debut.
