Determined to improve: Men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia (left) and Soh Wooi Yik have requested additional training at night to prepare for the Paris Games. — Bernama
PETALING JAYA: It’s going to get tougher for the Olympics-bound shuttlers – national coaching director Rexy Mainaky will increase the load by introducing a third daily training session in their the ongoing final tune-up.
Rexy said the additional training at night was in fact requested by men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.
After returning from their mental training sessions in Penang under Fred Tan over the weekend, Wooi Yik has decided to stay at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) until they leave for Paris.
“The request to train at 8pm actually came from the players themselves, especially Wooi Yik who wants to focus more on training,” said Rexy.
“After the mental training sessions, he feels he will be calmer and can remain focused by staying at ABM.
“We will have three night sessions a week and we are also trying to get another session based on the availability of the courts. ABM courts are also being rented by outsiders for night training sessions.”
The sessions will involve Aaron-Wooi Yik, women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah and mixed doubles Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei.
Since the night training is open to all Road to Gold players – independent players Lee Zii Jia and Goh Jin Wei can also attend those sessions.
Meanwhile, Wooi Yik said the mental training session was of great help for him to refocus on the Olympic preparation after the conclusion of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) tour events.
“We had a lot of physical sessions and Fred also had motivational sessions which were helpful,” said Wooi Yik.
“Since I will be staying at the ABM hostel, I want to use the additional time for the extra training.
“I don’t want any distractions in the next one month.”
Aaron said the additional sessions would be helpful as they are running out of time to prepare for the Olympics.
“We don’t have much time left and the extra sessions will focus more on light skills,” said Aaron.
“It will be less than two hours but it will be effective in perfecting the basic skills.”
World No. 5 Aaron-Wooi Yik, bronze medallists at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, look to be Malaysia’s best bets for a medal in Paris and Rexy would be pleased with singlemindedness shown by the duo at the moment.
