Kuala Lumpur: Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky is unwilling to take the risk of breaking up Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik despite the national number one pair’s recent uninspiring performance.
Rexy said it would be difficult to reshuffle the doubles department as other BAM players like Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (world no. 38th) and Wan Arif Wan Junaidi- Muhammad Haikal Nazri (80th) were still far behind Aaron and Wooi Yik in terms of standard of play and rankings.
“If in Indonesia, I think they would have no problems of splitting (top pairs) if necessary because they have two young pairs who are also in the top 20 – Pramudya Kusumawardana-Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan (14) and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana (20).
“They (Indonesian pairs) also do not take long to achieve chemistry and can play even until Super 1000 tournaments, but in Malaysia, if we pair Aaron with a younger player they have to start playing at Super 300 level and waste (time playing) a lot tournaments,” he said in an online press conference here, Sunday.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, who paired up in 2017, have yet to win any open tournaments, with their best achievement so far being grabbing bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Japan last year.
The world sixth-ranked pair also failed to use home advantage at the 2022 Malaysia Open and Malaysia Masters, losing in the semi-finals of both tournaments.
Aaron-Wooi Yik lost to world number two Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan 21-23, 9-21 at the Malaysia Open, followed by a 14-21, 21-19, 10-21 loss to world fifth-ranked Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia at the Malaysia Masters on Saturday.
Rexy was disappointed with the performances of Aaron-Wooi Yik and another top BAM pair, world number 12 Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, at the two tournaments in Malaysia.
He said Aaron-Wooi Yik had put themselves under unnecessary pressure when facing Fajar-Muhammad Rian at the Malaysia Masters and failed to play according to plan. “After watching videos of previous matches, we told them to adopt a certain strategy but on court it was the opposite and they looked panicky,” he said.
“To my observation, Fajar-Muhammad Rian did not seem to be under pressure when warming up, while Aaron-Wooi Yik were too preoccupied thinking about winning yesterday’s match,” he added. He also said Aaron and Wooi Yik should be more open in sharing their feelings.
In contrast, he said, Sze Fei was dead honest when he admitted to being afraid of Fajar-Muhammad Rian’s attack at the first-game interval, before losing 14-21, 20-22 in the first round of the Malaysia Masters with Nur Izzuddin.
However, Rexy believes the disappointment experienced in both tournaments will fuel their enthusiasm to excel at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, from July 28 to Aug 8.
