Bangkok outing whets Aaron-Wooi Yik’s appetite for better results

PETALING JAYA: National men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik vow to build on their solid outing in the Thailand Open as they bid to break into the world top 30 by the end of the year.

Aaron-Wooi Yik enjoyed a gallant run in Bangkok before losing 14-21, 12-21 to homesters Bodin IssaraManeepong Jongjit in the quarter-finals on Friday.

En route to the quarter-finals, the world No. 47 claimed their first win against a top 10 pair by upstaging world No. 9 Lee Jhe-huei-Lee-yang

of Taiwan in the second round.

The 20-year-old Wooi Yik said their confident showing this week has whetted their appetite for better results in the Opens in Singapore and Russia over the next two

weeks.

“Reaching our first quarter-final in just our second World Tour (after the Malaysian Open last month) means a lot to us,” said Wooi Yik, who was paired with 21-year-old Aaron last November.

“It’s more special than our three final appearances in the International Challenge (in India last year, and Vietnam, Malaysia this year).

“We studied what it took to play at this level and gained a lot of confidence from beating the higher-ranked pairs.

“But we’re not going to get carried away. We’ve two more back-toback tournaments and there’s plenty of room for improvement.

“Aaron and I target to reach the last eight on regular basis because our main goal is to reach the world top 30 this year.”

Aaron-Wooi Yik showed promise in April when they took two-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan to three games before losing 17-21, 21-17, 19-21 in the final of the Malaysian International Challenge.

At the Malaysian Open two weeks ago, they gave world No. 1 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo-Marcus Fernaldi Gideon of Indonesia a run for their money before going down 18-21, 28-30, earning them praise from Badminton Association Malaysia (BAM) president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria.