KUALA LUMPUR – World number five men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik will be selective of the tournaments they participate in as they are only targeting Super 1000 and 750 tournaments in order to collect maximum points for Olympic qualification.
The Race to Paris qualification will only take into account the 10-best results in 12 months starting from May 2023 until the end of April this year.
“Aaron-Wooi Yik’s schedule was designed where they will only take part in Super 1000 and 750 tournaments. This is so they will get maximum points for Olympic qualification.
“Now they are preparing for the French Open and the All England,” national coaching director Rexy Mainaky told reporters at Akademi Badminton Malaysia yesterday.
The French Open, which will take place from March 5 to 10, is a Super 750 event, while the All England, scheduled from March 12 to 17, is a Super 1000 tournament.
Commenting on the pair’s performance at the Malaysia and India Opens, Rexy said he was happy with their performance despite bowing out in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.
“At the India Open, they were controlling the game against Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty. Unfortunately, in the crucial points, they lost focus or were too eager to win. Then Aaron suffered an eye injury and everything went south from that moment.
“However, their performance in Malaysia and India was positive,” said Rexy.
At the Malaysia Open, Aaron-Wooi Yik lost to reigning world champions Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae 16-21, 21-18, 21-13 in the quarter-finals while, in India, they lost to home pair Rankireddy-Shetty 21-18, 21-14 in straight sets. – January 24, 2024