Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s World No. 35 men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik insisted they would be ready if given the opportunity to play at the 2018 Asian Games that will be held in Jakarta from August 19 to August 28.
Last week, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) admitted it has considered sending the young pair to Jakarta after Chia/Soh were doing great in their maiden World Championships in Nanjing, China before being defeated by the eventual champions, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen of China in the quarter-finals.
Should BAM decide to send Chia/Soh to Jakarta, it would have to drop one of these two pairs that were previously listed, Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong and Teo Ee Yi/Ong Yew Sin from the Malaysian squad.
“We are always ready to play in any tournaments including the Asian Games if given the opportunity. However, for now we do not want to think too much but let BAM to decide, “said Aaron Chia.
Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik received the ticket to World Championships about a week before the tournament started following the withdrawal of the other men’s doubles pair.
They beat Chung Eui Seok/Kim Dukyoung of Korea in the first round, outlasted No. 12 seeds Lee Jhe-huei/Lee Yang of Taiwan 16-21, 21-18, 21-19 in the second, and pulled off another upset by beating No. 8 seeds Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 21-18, 21-16 in the third round.
Chia, 21, and Soh, 20, respectively, showed their resilience and fought all the way before going down to the 2018 World Champions 21-14, 24-22 in the quarter-finals.
“Overall, we are satisfied with our performance at the World Championship this time because we managed to make several surprises before losing in the quarter-finals,” said Chia.
“In the quarter-finals of World Championships, we set our expectations too high, that affected our focus. Our second set performance was great, but due to some last minute errors, we ended up losing that game,” added Chia.
The pair would continue their next journey to Ho Chi Minh City to participate at the Vietnam Open that kicks off on Tuesday.
