Birmingham: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky told Malaysian media that he wanted to help World No. 6 Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik to uncover their full potential.
Rexy said he would avoid taking steps that could undermine Chia/Soh’s confidence who still have yet to win an individual title at international tournaments.
“For example, if we send them to see a psychologist, Aaron and Wooi Yik may really think that they have a problem, that would produce a negative impact on them mentally,” said Mainaky.
“As coaches, we can’t keep saying negative things about them because those messages will be stored in their memory. So we are now figuring out the best way to approach this,” added Mainaky.
Mainaky believed the 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medalists have the skill and abilities to win championships in the individual event as they contributed one point and helped the Malaysian team win gold in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games mixed team event.
Chia/Soh have reached the semi-finals on six occasions this year but have failed to progress beyond the last four including losing to World No. 18 Ben Lane/Sean Vendy of England 21-18, 17-21, 4-21 in the semi-finals of 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games on August 7, 2022.
As for Chia/Soh, they did not shield away from their shortcomings, instead, they admitted their problems, and were engaging with the problems with positive energy and in a constructive way.
“I’m also puzzled by this as well, and really hope we can overcome this problem at the World Championships in Tokyo. We will work hard to find a way to solve this problem,” said Chia.
“We have reached the semi-finals many times but have often lost in the last four. We played well in the mixed team event at the Commonwealth Games but lost again in the semi-finals in the individual event,” added Chia.
“Obviously we’re disappointed because we were aiming at winning gold,” continued Chia.
At the 2022 World Championships, Chia/Soh received a bye in the first round, and will likely play the Taiwanese pair, World No. 24 Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han in the second round before possibly clashing with compatriots – World No. 12 Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin in the third round.
