Aaron and Wooi Yik have promised to bounce back after early exit
PETALING JAYA: National men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik shot to fame after their superb show at last year’s World Championships in Nanjing, China.
Hopes of a repeat performance came to nought at this year’s world meet in Basel, Switzerland, when the world No. 10 pair went down fighting before bowing out 21-14, 17-21, 18-21 to Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi in the second round on Wednesday.
The All-England runners-up were hoping to go one step better after losing to China’s Li Junhui-Liu Yucheng in the quarter-finals in Nanjing last year.
They were left utterly disappointed but the duo have promised to bounce back.
“We are really disappointed because it was our first match here after a first-round bye. We were hoping to get into the semi-finals and seal our first medal in our second world meet,” said Aaron.
They did get off to a blistering start against the world No. 13 Hoki-Kobayashi by taking the opening game but the Japanese pair, coached by former Malaysian coach Jeremy Gan, stepped up the gas to take the second.
And it seemed like the Japanese were going to run away with the decider after leading 17-9 but the Malaysians fought back to narrow the deficit to 16-18 to spark promise of a great comeback. But their fightback was all in vain as Hoki-Kobayashi refused to cave in as they hung on to secure a place in the quarter-finals.
It’s the Malaysian duo’s second straight defeat to the Japanese pair after a similar painful 9-21, 16-21 loss in the second round of the Malaysian Open in April.
“We weren’t nervous or felt any pressure but we found ourselves in the same problem against them (like at the Malaysian Open). We were stuck and couldn’t lift our game up another gear,” admitted Aaron.
It was indeed a rude awakening for Aaron-Wooi Yik, who now understands that they have to work even harder to bounce back from the defeat.
“We have to improve in all aspects of our game, from the speed, power and combination. We lacked everything against the Japanese pairs.”
“We will discuss with our coaches for a solution and bounce back from this,” promised Aaron.
Malaysia’s challenge in the men’s doubles has been reduced to only one men’s pair after seniors Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong taught their juniors a lesson by pulling off a fantastic 21-13, 21-18 win over Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi in the second round on Wednesday.
V Shem-Wee Kiong, who have yet to go beyond the quarter-finals of the world meet as a pair, face Fajar Alfian-Muhd Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in the third round.
It’s tough for the Malaysians as they have yet to beat the seventh seeded Fajar-Rian, after losing twice at the Malaysian Masters in 2018 (final) and All-England this year (quarter-finals).
Earlier, independent pair Mohd Arif Latif-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub, went down to Russians Vladimir IvanovIvan Sozonov 12-21, 19-21 in the first round.