National men’s doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik is expected to continue to work in the hours and tweak their shortcomings ahead of the World Tour Series Final which will start this Wednesday at the Impact Arena in Bangkok.
The pair made positive strides to emerge runners-up at the Toyota Thailand Open yesterday.
Aaron-Wooi Yik’s performance was a marked improvement from the Yonex Thailand Open two weeks ago when they were left stranded in the first round.
Wong Choong Hann, the Coaching Director of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) said that the duo should make full use of the experience gained in these two tournaments to take their game to a whole new level.
“I hope that from these two tournaments, Aaron-Wooi Yik will use it to boost their confidence because they have what it takes to be successful,” said Choong Hann.
“We are well aware that a lot of work still needs to be done in terms of tactical and technical but we believe they are on the right track to be successful.”
For the World Tour Series Final, Aaron-Wooi Yik have been placed as the second seed behind Taiwanese pair Lee Yang-Wang Chi Lin who were the champions of the Toyota Thailand Open.
Indonesian duo Mohd Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan are the third seed while another Malaysian pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi have been placed fourth.
In the meantime, Malaysia’s No.1 men’s singles Lee Zii Jia has also qualified for the World Tour Series Finals which offers a total cash prize worth US$ 1.5 million (RM6.07 million).
In the women’s doubles, Malaysia will have two national representatives in Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean and Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen in the World Tour Series Final after they secured their places among the Top Ten.
On the other hand, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie are the only Malaysians in the mixed doubles event.
“The players must to show better fighting spirit as they need to return the trust and the support given by Malaysians to the sport of badminton,” added Choong Hann.
Meanwhile, Choong Hann praised the positive development shown by the country’s two young doubles, Pearly Tan-M Thinaah and Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See in Bangkok.
“They are not yet at the level needed to be on par with the world’s best players in terms of strength and tactical speed. We still have to work hard to improve these players further,” Choong Hann said.
He also explained that players who do not achieve the expected results at the two Thailand Open tournaments will definitely have to assess their positions when the coaching staff make their evaluations.
