On to next mission: Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik share a light moment while posing with their bronze medals. — Bernama
PETALING JAYA: The journey does not end in the Paris Olympics for men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik as it’s the start of another chase to end the gold medal wait.
Aaron-Wooi Yik are already looking forward to a fresh assault in the 2028 Los Angeles Games after retaining their bronze medal at Port de la Chapelle in Paris.
The pair won the country’s first medal after a heart stopping 16-21, 22-20, 21-19 victory over Denmark’s world No. 2 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the bronze medal playoff match on Sunday.
World No. 3 Aaron-Wooi Yik fought back from the death when they were a game down and 16-20 in the second to narrowly edge the Danes in 69 minutes.
The Malaysians were happy to come away with their second bronze after winning the same medal in the 2021 Tokyo Games but hope to do better in 2028.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, who also captured the World Championships title in 2022, were chasing the country’s elusive gold but their dream was ended by China’s world No. 1 and eventual silver medallists Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang in the semi-finals.
“There’s nothing much to celebrate as it’s still only a bronze. Our target was higher but at least for now, we have got a medal for Malaysia,” said Aaron in a post match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“In the three years (since 2021), we grew a lot and learned a lot of different styles. We won the world title in 2022.
“There’re two ways of looking at this. Some might say, three years before and now we got the same bronze and there’s no improvement from us.
“But on the other hand, we can say that we were consistent to get the bronze again.”
Wooi Yik said: “We might not have achieved what all Malaysians wanted but not everyone could have fought like this in the bronze medal match after losing in the semi-finals.
“Next, we hope to do better in Los Angeles. We will be there whenever Malaysia needs us.”
On the match, Aaron believes it is the pair’s best comeback win.
“This is definitely our greatest comeback in a major tournament and better than when we won the world title,” said Aaron.
“We never gave up and stayed solid in defence while adding some variety in our play. We could feel that the Danes were getting nervous and we did not want to make any mistakes.
“We are proud as Malaysians to give our country the first medal.”
Aaron said that the pair need to start afresh and prepare for the next OIympics from next year.
“We must start again and prepare for the 2028 Olympics next year,” said Aaron.
“For now, we might rest for a few days first as we have been pushing ourselves for the past two months to prepare for this Olympics. Then, we will play in the World Tour tournaments until the end of the year.”
