KUALA LUMPUR – Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky says he is not rushing to set high targets for national men’s and women’s doubles at the BWF World Tour Finals.
Earlier, Rexy said he had expected Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Pearly Tan-M Thinaah to get past the group stage. Now, however, he would re-assess the targets after the players’ draw is known on December 5.
“Of course, the target is for all who qualified to win the Word Tour provided they get past the group stage. If we set a high target before the group stage is known, it would put pressure on the players.
“The draw is not out yet, but based on the Word Tour ranking, it is not impossible for them to meet stronger pairs. So we need to wait before setting clear and achievable targets,” said Rexy after a training session at Academy Badminton Malaysia here today.
According to Rexy, the players’ pre-tournament preparations ahead are going well with greater psychological focus given to build their mental strength.
Rexy said that the mental resilience of the national men’s and women’s pairs is commendable, but it can be further improved.
Besides Aaron-Wooi Yik and Pearly-Thinaah, Malaysia will also be represented by four other pairs at the World Tour which will be held in Bangkok, Thailand from December 7 to 11.
They are professional men’s pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, professional women’s pair Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien and two professional mixed doubles pairs, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing.
In another development, Rexy said he was reshuffling the mixed doubles pairs for several tournaments in the future.
“It is already underway and the finalised pairs are Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, Hoo Pang Ron-Teoh Mei Xing, Choong Hon Jian-Yap Ling, Loo Bing Kun-Yap Cheng Wen and Yap Roy King-Valeree Siow.
“We have paired them several times and we feel they need to be maintained,” he said.
Rexy, who has experimented with new doubles combinations in the past, said he would do the same for the Malaysian International Challenge in Ipoh from December 13 to 18. – Bernama, December 2, 2022
