KUALA LUMPUR – National men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik could once again almost grasp the final stage but eventually fell into the hands of their opponents.
On the most recent occasions, they were knocked out of the semis of Malaysia Open (June 28 – July 3) to Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi, then to Indonesia’s unbeatable duo Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto at the Malaysia Masters yesterday.
Following their consecutive losses, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky said that splitting them up – to see if they could perform better with another partner – is out of the question for two out of many reasons.
“Just because they have not been performing well, we cannot simply split them up.
“One of the reasons is because we do not have any other reserved players of high ranked,” said Rexy, referring to 38th-ranked Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun and 80th-ranked Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Muhammad Haikal Nazri.
“If we pair them with another player, we also do not have enough time to get them ready for the (Birmingham) Commonwealth Games or the World Championships.
“Unlike Indonesia, they have many top players where they could probably be paired up with any other.”
Aaron and Wooi Yik have been paired since 2017 and are currently ranked number 10 in the world.
Rexy also noted that the Malaysian top pair seemed to be overconfident and had overestimated their opponents, despite having lost to them twice consecutively in the past, which eventually caused them to add unnecessary pressure on the court.
“I am disappointed with our men’s doubles yesterday against Fajar-Rian, especially Aaron.
“We have watched videos of their games and analysed their moves, but in the end what they did on the court was the complete opposite of what we discussed and trained to do,” Rexy was speaking to reporters today via Zoom call.
Despite their three head-to-head advantage prior to Malaysia Masters, Aaron-Wooi Yik had lost to the Indonesians in the last two meetings – the 2022 Swiss Open and Thailand Open 2022.
Their greatest achievement so far was earning bronze at the Tokyo Olympic 2020.
Rexy also advised players to be honest with issues they faced during training and tournaments with their coaches, instead of being reserved with what concerned them.
“No point relying on coaches to do all the work if they do not make the effort.
“When we train all the time, I do not see the problem. It has always been the same answer when we ask them what is wrong.
“Like Sze Fei, he admitted to me that he was afraid to face his opponents, Fajar-Rian. He is afraid he would not be able to counter their attacks,” Rexy added.
Despite the losses, Rexy noticed that the players are still spirited to continue their journey for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games slated for July 28.
He is looking forward to high-performance director Dr Tim Jones’s evaluation of the players’ performance and hopes that Jones could carry out a psychological assessment. – The Vibes, July 10, 2022
