KUALA LUMPUR – National men’s doubles player Soh Wooi Yik believes that all pairs competing at the Badminton World Federation’s World Tour Finals this month are dangerous, but he has singled out one duo in particular.
He said the world number one pair, Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang of China, will be the strongest pair at the finals.
“I feel like Weikeng and Wang Chang will be the most difficult pair at the finals.
“They are really talented and have an all-around game. Their speed and power are also really hard to deal with.
“All eight pairs have a chance to win. It’s going to be about strategy and your performance on the day,” added Wooi Yik.
However, this will be Wooi Yik’s fourth appearance at the tour finals with partner Aaron Chia. Their three previous outings were disappointing after failing to get out of the group stage.
But this time around, the world number three pair has set a target of reaching the quarter-finals at the season-ending tournament held in Hangzhou, China from December 13 to December 17.
“We have played in the World Tour Finals three times previously. This time, hopefully, we will at least make it out of the group stage and qualify to the quarter-finals. Beating the other seven pairs is going to be tough, but we want to perform well too and at the same time, enjoy the game.
“Performing well at the World Tour Finals will boost our rankings and help our qualification to the Paris Olympics,” said Wooi Yik.
Despite bagging their first World Tour title at the Denmark Open in October, Wooi Yik and Aaron’s recent record has not been the best after exiting the China and Kumamoto Masters in the early rounds.
Wooi Yik said that it is just a matter of strategy, and the world number three pair is hard at work fixing those mistakes.
“Slowly, we are getting back our momentum that we lost because of our strategy, but our performance was okay.
“Our opponents also played well, so I think from these two tournaments, we have learned from our mistakes, and we can display our best performance at the World Tour Finals,” said the 25-year-old.
In Hangzhou, Wooi Yik and Aaron will face the challenge of Muhammad Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana, Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi, Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, Takuro Hioki-Yugo Kobayashi, Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Sung-jae, and Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto. – December 2, 2023