KUALA LUMPUR: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik‘s hopes of delivering a Merdeka Day gift fell flat after the world No. 2 men’s doubles admitted their form deserted them at the World Championships.
On Friday, the two-time Olympic bronze medallists made a sluggish start and were beaten 21-12, 21-19 by India’s world No. 9 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty in just 43 minutes at the Adidas Arena in Paris.
The warning signs were already there as Aaron-Wooi Yik had struggled in the earlier rounds.
To make matters worse, Satwik-Chirag are guided by Malaysian coach Tan Kim Her, a former BA of Malaysia man who once worked with the pair.”
Despite the defeat, I think we gave our best. In the first game we couldn’t execute our tactics as planned — Satwik-Chirag played tight and controlled the match,” Aaron told Astro Arena.
“In the second, we tried again, but at the crucial moments, we still fell short. We have to accept we failed to win a medal and keep working harder moving forward.”
The defeat snapped Aaron-Wooi Yik’s run of delivering at major events. Since clinching bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, they went on to win Malaysia’s first-ever world title in 2022, before securing bronze medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games and the Copenhagen World Championships in 2023
They also claimed another bronze at the Paris Olympics last year.
But this time, Wooi Yik admitted it simply wasn’t to be.
“Our opponents had a big lead from the start in the first game and grew more confident, while we were slow to find our rhythm,” he said.
“In the second game, we came close, but in the end we were still lacking. We have to accept this result.”
Malaysia’s other men’s pair, world No. 7 Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, put up a braver fight before bowing out 21-23, 23-21, 21-15 to South Korea‘s world No. 1 Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
