Crying foul: Aaron Chia (centre) and Soh Wooi Yik arguing with the umpire during the quarter-final match against South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae. — S.S. KANESAN/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Men’s doubles coach Tan Bin Shen has given national No. 1 pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik a seven out of 10 rating for their performance in the Malaysian Open.
Aaron-Wooi Yik went down fighting 21-16, 18-21, 13-21 to South Korea’s reigning world champions Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae in the quarter-finals at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil on Friday.
The world No. 4 were leading 10-8 in the third game but could not hold on and the Koreans gained in confidence after taking a narrow 11-10 advantage.
Min-hyuk-Seung-jae did not look back from then on and went on to control the match and come away with the win.
Bin Shen believed that Aaron-Wooi Yik need to do better to prevent their opponents from gaining confidence.
“They lost the match when they lost control after letting the lead slip in the third game,” said Bin Shen.
“I have said before that they need to hold on when leading.
“Once they start making mistakes, the opponents will regain their confidence.
“I will say Aaron-Wooi Yik are repeating the same mistakes they did before this but in previous matches, they have also managed to come back from deficits.
“Overall, I will give them a rating of seven to eight out of 10 for their performance in their first tournament of the year.
“This defeat does not mean that they have fallen behind their rivals.
“In terms of strategy, they are not far behind but they just need to do better when it comes to some minor details,” added Bin Shen.
Moving forward, Bin Shen will work with Aaron-Wooi Yik on handling the pressure better during the crucial moments in matches, which he believes is key to winning matches.
Aaron-Wooi Yik will next turn their attention to the Indian Open starting Tuesday in New Delhi.
The pair have a tricky first-round match against Japan’s world No. 14 Akira Koga-Taichi Saito.
