No time to lose: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are currently 13th on the World Tour Finals ranking.
ODENSE: Doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are all fired up to accomplish an ‘impossible’ mission to wrap up the year on a good note.
The door may have seemed to close on them for a spot in the season finale – World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, China from Dec 11-15 – but they are not throwing in the towel yet.
They have signed up for three tournaments on the trot – Korean Masters (Nov 5-10), Kumamoto Masters (Nov 12-17) and China Masters (Nov 19-24) in a bid to qualify as one of the top eight pairs for the Finals.
Currently, they are lying in the 13th spot and the Malaysians ahead of them are Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (fourth), Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (seventh) and Choong Hon Jian-Haikal Mohd Nazri (ninth).
A country can have two pairs if both of them are in the top eight.
Aaron said they would have to reach at least the final in all their next tournaments to keep their hope alive to qualify for the Finals.
“We are still trying to qualify for the Finals and probably have to reach the finals in all the next Opens to make it happen,” said Aaron.
“It’s not impossible... We have to keep getting it right in training to be ready for these Opens.”
Wooi Yik, who went for a toe surgery after picking up the injury during the Paris Olympic Games in August, is also staying positive.
“We have missed the Finals before but we will try to get in this time. My condition is getting better after the Paris stint,” said Wooi Yik.
On Friday, the former world champions Aaron-Wooi Yik’s perfect record against Chen Boyang-Liu Yi of China ended in the Denmark Open.
Third seeds Aaron-Wooi Yik, who won the title last year, went down 20-22, 15-21 in 41 minutes to the unseeded pair in the men’s doubles quarter-finals at the Jyske Bank Arena in Odense.
It was the Malaysians’ first defeat to Boyang-Liu Yi after having secured wins at the Malaysian Masters and Arctic Open this year.
Wooi Yik said the opening game defeat broke their rhythm.
“It was quite tight in the first game and our opponents were so fast. We found it hard to raise our game in the second. We will get better,” said Wooi Yik.
It has been relatively a year of ups and downs for Aaron-Wooi Yik. They reached the only final in the All-England this year and bagged a bronze at the Paris Olympic Games.
