Indian badminton's biggest current nemesis – a dosai-loving, soft-spoken Malaysian guided by Herry, the Indonesian Magician
Twitter imbeciles of sport in India, looked at Aaron Chia, watched him outwit Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty at Singapore last week, and brought out the first three-letter body-shaming word they could summon.
The Malaysian doubles player, one of the finest in the world, with one World championship in 2022 and two Olympic bronzes in 2021 and 2024, is not very tall, but stocky. Neither of which has interfered with him and partner Soh Wooi Yik developing a doubles game that can trouble the best in the world.
Social media trolling and fan-wars often stem from ignorant understanding of the sport, and fans from two nations have often traded vile racist and body shaming insults directed at the shuttlers, with all of Aaron Chia, Satwik and Chirag being targets. Between the pairings, cordiality and respect prevail effortlessly, and badminton is always interesting. But the disservice to a game matchup, and a wazzocky focus on nationalities means, when the Indians do beat the Malaysians, there is little comprehension of what they have achieved either.
So who is Aaron Chia? An extremely soft-spoken wizard of badminton who had once enthusiastically spoken of competing with buddies on the number of dosais he could polish off, like some Indians compete on pani puris. Prolifically talented with strokeplay, not needing overt aggression or any other antics because his racquet can write entire symphonies. Stocky yes, but he put himself through such a regimented punishing routine before the Paris Olympics – not to lose weight per se, but lean out to achieve agility and quicken reflexes. The Malaysians beat the Indians and went on to take bronze. A masterly reader of the game, who keeps pulling wins even if their coaches and opponents know they can improve their attack from the back court exponentially.
At the net, his skills from serve variations to puppeteering entire passages of play with his deceptions and reflexes and racquet sleights, have cost Indians some massive matches.
The head to head is 10-3, but the two pairings have played some of the toughest badminton and are part of each other's storyline, like Carolina Marin and Nozomi Okuhara are pivotal to Sindhu's career arc. While the Olympics loss was the most heartbreaking one handed out to the Indians, Aaron-Wooi also notched a 21-16 in the decider at the 2022 World Championship semis. Satwik-Chirag had denied the Malaysians the Asian Games gold match, and also won their Indonesian Open crown, beating the Malaysians.
But even two Olympic bronzes and a first-ever World title doesn't assure Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik of eternal loyalty of their own fans. Men's doubles can be cruel that way. At the Sudirman Cup this summer, Aaron-Wooi were fielded in a Knockout against Japan, ahead of the higher ranked Sze Fei-Izzuddin. Fresh from winning the Asian Championships, the Malaysian coaching group reckoned they were riding a wave against Hoki-Kobayashi.
No.3 seeds Chia/Soh 🇲🇾 go toe-to-toe against Rankireddy/Shetty 🇮🇳.#BWFWorldTour #SingaporeOpen2025 pic.twitter.com/vGca3fVeup
— BWF (@bwfmedia) May 31, 2025
The matchups in doubles get intriguing depending on playing styles that combinations are uncomfortable with. So Satwik-Chirag rarely struggle against Hoki-Kobayashi, but the Malaysians had an eight-match losing streak, and a wretched H2H of 2-11 playing the Japanese. Losing in the Sudirman Cup 3-2 to Japan as they lost the fifth decisive game, plunged Aaron-Wooi's popularity greatly.
It was a proper scandal, with soul-searching and firings of coaches demanded, the usual refrain of allowing juniors to take over and a dark time for Aaron Chia personally. Those that pick on Satwik-Chirag for their colour, are not very kind to their own either. It's why when the duo won the Singapore Open and finally reversed the scoreline, even the Malaysian deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi breathed a sigh of relief, recalled a loss from India Open and gushed on Fb saying, 'But today, they came back to redeem that defeat and proved their mettle on the final stage.'
As such, the duo called 'backup pair' in Malaysia, are in the middle of a purple patch – winning three of their last five tournaments. It prompted former World No 1 Malaysian Koo Kien Keat, who formed a world No. 1 partnership with Tan Boon Heong, to challenge them to match his Malaysian record for most men's doubles titles in a calendar year — six in 2007.
No matter how big your achievements in men's doubles, the top level is so punishing that every pairing has its nemeses, mental demons and injury litanies and struggles – making it mentally challenging to retain the perch.
Aaron-Wooi themselves were called bottlers on the World Tour, losing six consecutive finals before finally netting the Super 750 Denmark Open in 2023. Boorish badminton fans, looking for eternal highs and dispensing judgments on Twitter, are hardly aware of how tough the grind is, with every Chinese, Danish, Korean and Indonesian pair under constant scrutiny in a teeming calendar with no respite.
What will help Aaron-Wooi, not too unlike the Indians having the sagacious coaches Tan Kim Her and Pullela Gopichand with them, is the arrival of Indonesian coaching great Herry Iman Pierngadi.
'Fire Dragon' is a 68-year-old Indonesian legend who trained Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan to thumping the Chinese at home in the Beijing Olympics final and shepherded Chandra Wijaya-Tony Gunawan. He faced a barrage of criticisms after the Sudirman exit, but stayed calm and unfazed knowing he knew better.
Coach Herry has put an end to the Aaron-Wooi iffiness and hesitation especially in crunch scenarios against the Chinese.
'They now stick to their gameplan, even under pressure, and that's a huge step forward,' says Kein Keat, as quoted by Straits Times.
The duo tended to panic and snatch at shuttles in crunch situations but that has drastically reduced. The coach has polished their game that can now launch comebacks from brinks of defeats, something Malaysians, considered brittle, were not known for. At the All England they lost in the first round, and Herry would call it the worst day of his coaching career. But the last month has seen them gain solidity.
An example of Aaron and Wooi getting even more formidable since Herry's coaching was in a tournament semifinal when he told them they had come quite far so they could afford to play on like a training game. Freed of pressure, Aaron hit the high notes. Herry told FMT he was pleased to watch them displaying much improved tactical maturity, especially when under immense pressure from their opponents.
For Satwik-Chirag, who progressed at Indonesia even after Aaron-Wooi slumped in Round 1 after three good weeks, the next battle gets interesting. Coach Tan is equally astute and will pit his planning wits against Herry IP, a legend whenever the two pairs meet. When fully fit, Satwik-Chirag can outgun Aaron-Wooi though the intricacies of strategy on both sides are a delicious prospect.
The retired Indonesians Ahsan-Setiawan are role models for both the Malaysians and Indians. And both Satwik-Chirag will tell you they can counter Aaron Chia, but will see no reason to disrespect the amiable genius who has never been obnoxious on court. Wins and losses will get traded on court, but fans would do well to respect Aaron Chia as a formidable opponent whose shuttle skills deserve awe – a better three letter word than ones they foolishly throw his way for being stocky.
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