Kuala Lumpur: The World No. 8 men’s doubles pair, Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik picked up a total cash reward of RM180,000 (USD $43,394) on Thursday following their achievements of winning the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Chia/Soh were given the cash bonus of RM120,000 from the Malaysia Badminton Association (BAM), and also received an additional incentive of RM60,000 given by their sponsor, 100Plus, a sports drink manufacturer in Malaysia.
Malaysia’s men’s doubles head coach, Flandy Limpele was also rewarded RM30,000 by BAM.
The Olympic bronze medalists said they are currently preparing for the Sudirman Cup and Thomas Cup Finals.
“We are 95 percent ready. We still have the fighting spirit from Tokyo. I don’t think it’s a big problem for us to take some time off for recovery,” said Chia.
Meanwhile, Soh said that they need to rebuild their mental and physical strengths after the quarantine period, but hope to give the best at those two prestigious team tournaments.
“After returning from the Olympics, we have only had three weeks for training, and in just two more weeks, we’ll have to leave for the Sudirman Cup, followed by the Thomas Cup Finals. Since Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong left BAM two years ago, we have to take responsibility to become the main men’s doubles pair for our country,” said Soh.
“Of course, there will be pressure, but we have gained a lot of experience by participating in many big tournaments. The fact that we were able to win bronze in the Olympics really motivated us to keep getting better,” added Soh.
In the award ceremony that was held at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur, the President of BAM, Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria also announced that he would also give a cash bonus of RM200,000 to Malaysia’s Paralympic gold medalist, Cheah Liek Hou. Cheah’s coach, Rashid Sidek will receive RM50,000 for his contribution in helping Cheah won gold at Tokyo Paralympics.
The Sudirman Cup is a mixed team tournament scheduled to take place in Vantaa, Finland from September 26 to October 3, followed by the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Aarhus, Denmark from October 9 to October 17.
