Beatable at times: China’s world No. 1 pair Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang’s losses to Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae show that the men’s doubles event can be an open race in Paris.
CHENGDU: The Thomas-Uber Cup Finals are over and the focus will now be on the Paris Olympic Games from July 25-Aug 8.
And based on the quality performances at the team event in Chengdu, no doubt, China’s shuttlers are shaping up impressively for the Paris Games and don’t be surprised if they emerge as the big winners again.
The homesters captured both the titles on Sunday much to the delight of their passionate home fans at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center.
In the men’s singles, world No. 2 Shi Yuqi established himself as one of the favourites for the Olympics gold by ending the team meet with a flawless record.
In the doubles, world No. 1 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang will also be vying for the title in Paris after beating the likes of India’s world No. 3 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and Indonesia’s world No. 7 Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto.
Weikeng-Wang Chang though did lose to South Korea’s reigning world champions Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae and Malaysia’s 2022 world title winners Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik to show that the men’s doubles is set to be an open race in Paris.
In the women’s singles, reigning Olympic champion Chen Yufei will be out to defend her crown after propelling China to their 16th Uber Cup title.
World No. 1 Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan also finished the tournament undefeated and are one of the favourites for gold in the doubles.
Meanwhile, Indonesia also did well by finishing as the runners-up in both the Thomas and Uber Cup.
While it was no surprise that the men made it into the final as they are the most successful team in the competition with 14 titles, the women exceeded expectations by winning silver for the first time since the 2008 edition at home in Jakarta.
World No. 9 Gregoria Mariska (singles) and Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti (doubles) will be Indonesia’s best bets to win medals in Paris.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s best hope will be on Aaron-Wooi Yik.
The pair’s victory over Weikeng-Wang Chang will be a boost ahead of the Olympics.
Aaron-Wooi Yik also defeated Denmark’s world No. 4 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the group stage before narrowly losing to Japan’s 2021 world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi in the last eight.
National coaching director Rexy Mainaky believes that the pair still have room for improvement ahead of the Olympics based on their showing in the team meet.
“It’s good that Aaron-Wooi Yik managed to beat Weikeng-Wang Chang but their defeat to Hoki-Kobayashi showed that they still have room for improvement before the Olympics,” said Rexy.
“Now, we need to prepare them well so that they play even better in Paris.”
Aaron-Wooi Yik helped the team reach the semi-finals for the first time since the 2016 edition in Kunshan, China, and completed their own collection of medals in every major tournament.
While hope is on dependable Aaron-Wooi Yik to go better than their bronze medal effort at the last Olympics, it will be hard to expect a medal from Lee Zii Jia and the others in the team due to their inconsistent performances.
