Only Chia-Soh played to expectation in Bangkok – Choong Hann
KUALA LUMPUR: Except for top men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, the other national players were a disappointment in the recent back-to-back Thailand Open tournaments, said Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaching director Wong Choong Hann.
He said although Chia and Soh put up a decent performance at the Yonex Thailand Open from Jan 12-17 and Toyota Thailand Open from Jan 19-24 in Bangkok, there is still room for improvement.
“It’s a good start for them this year, and I hope they will gain more confidence in all areas. From the match, we can see they have a lot of catching up to do.
“We will continue to work on it, and our comeback is on the right track,” he told Bernama yesterday.
Chia and Soh crashed out in the opening round of the Yonex Thailand Open but bounced back strongly in the Toyota Thailand Open, where they lost to sixth seeds Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan 13-21 and 18-21 in the final on Sunday.
Choong Hann believed that women’s doubles pair M. Thinaah-Pearly Tan Koong Le and mixed doubles players Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See had gained valuable experience competing against top pairs in both competitions.
“Both of them are still not on par with other top pairs in terms of strength and tactical execution speed. We need to work harder (on them),” added Choong Hann.
He hoped the Malaysians who qualified for the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals to be held at the same venue from Jan 27-31 would do better to make up for their disappointment in the two open tournaments.
Top Malaysian men’s singles Lee Zii Jia, doubles pairs ChiaSoh and Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, women’s doubles players Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean and Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen, and mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai have qualified for the season-ending US$1.5 million tournament.