Painful: Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik desperately need to find their magic before heading to Paris. — AP
PETALING JAYA: All that men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik can do between now and the Paris Olympics is to train as their stint in Indonesia has not sparked confidence.
The world No. 5 duo were sent packing in the second round of the Indonesian Open after an uncharacteristic 16-21, 14-21 defeat to world No. 25 Yang Po-hsuan-Hu Ling-fang of Taiwan at the Istora Senayan yesterday.
The World Tour Super 1000 tournament in Jakarta was the final outing for Aaron-Wooi Yik before shifting their full focus for the Paris Olympics from July 26-Aug 11 and they failed to get the desired result.
Getting knocked out in the second round to a lower ranked pair has given the Malaysians much to think about as they desperately need to find their magic before heading to Paris.
“This is a bad game for us. The conditions were tricky and our confidence was an issue,” said Wooi Yik.
“Being confident is very important and we have to learn to fix these things when we get back to training.
“We are done with all the tournaments before the Olympics so all that’s left now is for the training camp and other preparations,” said Wooi Yik.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists added that they want to get on the higher podium spot, but work needs to be done before the Paris stint.
“After the loss we have no choice but to go back to training, we need to polish our gameplay and find our rhythm again,” added Wooi Yik.
“Of course we want to do better than bronze this time, but we don’t want to pressure ourselves at the same time.
“We need to focus on the steps in training and fix our gameplay. We are fine physically but we just couldn’t find our game.”
Although Aaron-Wooi Yik seemed to be the favourites to win against Po-hsuan-Ling-fang as they had won five of the past six meetings, the Taiwanese pair turned things around and secured their second win against the Malaysians.
Po-hsuan-Ling-fang will now take on Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun in the quarter-finals today after the Malaysians upstaged Danish pair Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard 21-18, 19-21, 21-12 in the second round.
