We’ve been there: Aaron Chia (left) Soh Wooi Yik will just take it as it comes in Paris.
PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are unperturbed by their unseeded status in the Paris Olympics.
World No. 5 Aaron-Wooi Yik could not manage to get a seeding in time for the Olympics after finishing behind China’s world No. 1 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang, Denmark’s world No. 2 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (No. 3) and South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae (No. 4) in the rankings.
The Malaysian pair, though, are not losing sleep over this and instead believe that being unseeded has its own advantages.
Aaron-Wooi Yik captured bronze in their debut outing in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics where they were also not seeded.
“We are not seeded this time just like in Tokyo and this can be an advantage for us,” said Aaron.
“The men’s doubles competition is highly competitive and the seeded pairs could be under a lot of pressure.
“On top of that, some of the seeded pairs are first timers, so we can use our experience (of playing in the Tokyo Games) as an advantage.”
The seeded pairs who will be making their Olympic debuts are Weikeng-Wang Chang and Min-hyuk-Seung-jae.
Seung-jae did compete in the Tokyo edition but with a different partner, Choi Sol-gyu.
In Tokyo, Aaron-Wooi Yik memorably toppled Indonesia’s top seeds Marcus Fernaldi-Kevin Sanjaya in the last eight.
The former then clinched the bronze after pulling off another stunning win over Marcus-Kevin’s experienced teammates Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan in the bronze medal playoff match.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, who were Malaysia’s sole medallists in badminton in Tokyo, continued the country’s respectable record in the Olympics.
Badminton has contributed at least one medal for the country in every Games since the sport was introduced in Barcelona in 1992 except in the 2000 and 2004 editions.
Hopes are again high on Aaron-Wooi Yik to not just bring home another medal but to win the elusive gold this time.
The pair have a great chance of getting off to a good start in the competition, which is scheduled from July 27-Aug 5 at the Adidas Arena in Porte de la Chapelle after they were placed in one of the kinder groups.
Aaron-Wooi Yik will play Weikeng-Wang Chang, England’s Ben Lane-Sean Vendy and Canada’s Adam Dong-Nyl Yakura in Group A.
Only the top two pairs will progress to the quarter-finals.
