
World can be their oyster
Capable of more success : Aaron and Wooi Yik have not managed to consistently bring their best form to the World Tour and have only won the 2023 Denmark Open and 2024 Korean Masters titles so far.
PETALING JAYA: One is not enough.
And with an intent on making former men's doubles world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik multiple title winners this year, coach Herry Iman Pierngadi is ready to guide his charges to another success at the Thailand Open starting in Bangkok today.
Herry, who replaced Tan Bin Shen in February, won plaudits after guiding Aaron-Wooi Yik to the Asian Championships crown last month.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, however, have not managed to consistently bring their best form to the World Tour and have only won the 2023 Denmark Open and 2024 Korean Masters titles so far.
The world No. 5 pair did well to win the world title in 2022 and two bronze medals in the Olympics (2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris).
Herry is keen to change their lack of titles in the World Tour.
'I want to help Aaron-Wooi Yik improve their record in the World Tour as they are one of Malaysia's best men's pairs,' said Herry.
'They have been following my training programme well since I started coaching them. There are a few aspects though that they can still improve on like Wooi Yik's power from the back court.'
In Thailand, second seed Aaron-Wooi Yik will play French pair Julien Maio-William Villeger in the opening round.
A victory could see the Malaysians take on Japan's tricky duo Hiroki Midorikawa-Kyohei Yamashita next for a place in the last eight.
Meanwhile, the other Malaysian men's pairs in the fray will be Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi, Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub, Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hon Jian, Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong, Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing and qualifiers Chia Weijie-Lwi Shenghao.
The top seeds are Indonesia's world No. 4 Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto.
In the women's doubles, world No. 4 Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah will be the country's best hope and will open their campaign against Japan's Hina Osawa-Akari Sato.
Pearly-Thinaah will be joined in the competition by Go Pei Kee-Teoh Mei Xing and youngsters Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting.
Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin, Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien and Roy King-Valeree Siow will be Malaysia's mixed doubles representatives.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New Straits Times
6 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Istora revenge for Pearly-Thinaah
KUALA LUMPUR: It was an eye for an eye type of revenge. You beat me in my backyard, and I do the same to you. That was the script for women's pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah who defeated Indonesia's Lanny Tria Mayasari-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti at Istora Senayan in Jakarta today to reach the Indonesia Open quarter-finals. The world No. 4 dropped the first game but managed to silence the Istora Senayan crowd with an 18-21, 21-6, 21-17 win over world No. 20 Lanny-Fadia in 59 minutes. The Indonesian pair had humbled Pearly-Thinaah in the Malaysia Open at the Axiata Arena in January. "We were prepared, not only against them but the whole of Istora. It is always like this here, and we just stayed focused," said Thinaah. "We have belief in ourselves that we could do it while the coaches were also motivating us when we were trailing (in the third game)." Playing their fourth consecutive tournament since their Thailand Open victory, Pearly admitted that they were tired, but the will to win was high. "We were tired, but we trusted each other. Both of us were nervous, but we managed to calm overselves down to push for the win," said Pearly. It was their second win over Lanny-Fadia in three meetings, and beating their rivals at their own den will surely boost Pearly-Thinaah's confidence to capture the Super 1000 event. Pearly-Thinaah will play either compatriots Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting or Japan's world No. 5 Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanashi in the last eight. Pearly-Thinaah also reached the Indonesia Open quarter-finals last year before losing to China's Olympic champions Jia Yi Fan-Chen Qing Chen.


New Straits Times
9 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Herry hails Aaron-Wooi Yik for brave run
KUALA LUMPUR: Herry IP had nothing but praise for Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik despite their first round exit in the Indonesia Open on Wednesday. The national men's doubles head coach said their loss to Denmark's world No. 16 Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard (21-13, 19-21, 21-18) was due to fatigue more than anything else. Aaron-Wooi Yik were playing their fourth consecutive World Tour tournament, in Jakarta. The world No. 3 duo had been on an extraordinary run, winning the Thailand Open, finishing runners-up at the Malaysia Masters and winning the Singapore Open before the Indonesia campaign. Notably, Aaron-Wooi Yik had beaten Kjaer-Sogaard in the Malaysia Masters quarter-finals and Singapore Open last week. "What Aaron-Wooi Yik have done is exceptional. They have been competing non-stop for the last four weeks from the Thailand to Indonesia Opens and have pushed themselves to the maximum," said Herry. "There is no way the Denmark pair could have beaten Aaron-Wooi Yik if not for their extreme fatigue. "I am happy with their progress and I believe Aaron-Wooi Yik are only going to get better in future tournaments." Aaron-Wooi Yik's surge started at the Asian Championships (April 8-13) where they secured their first title of the year before adding two more World Tour titles in Thailand and Singapore to finally show the consistency that had been missing from the 2022 world champions. The duo, who lost in seven finals from 2018-2024, have become more lethal since coming under Herry aka the Fire Dragon. Aaron said on his Instagram story: "Every match and every training session is never about one person (individual) but about showing up, staying grounded and doing the work with honesty. We keep going with the focus and for the flag we wear."


The Star
12 hours ago
- The Star
Aaron-Wooi Yik miss out on taking world No. 1 spot but can walk tall
PETALING JAYA: Men's doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik may have missed their chance to claim the world number one spot this week at the Indonesian Open, but they can still take pride in what they have achieved over the past three weeks. The world No. 3 Aaron-Wooi Yik went down 13-21, 21-19, 18-21 to Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard of Denmark in the first round on Wednesday in Jakarta. After a successful three weeks where they started by winning the Thailand Open, finishing second at the Malaysian Masters and bagging the Singapore Open, this time at the Istora Senayan, the Malaysians simply had nothing left in the tank. Aaron-Wooi Yik were in contention to become world number one, provided they won the Indonesian Open, as the points gap among the top three men's doubles pairs is extremely tight. Current world number one Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin have 91,090 points, followed closely by Denmark's Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen with 90,411 points, while Aaron-Wooi Yik sit third with 89,870 points. The 27-year-old Wooi Yik took the defeat in his stride. "To be honest, physically it wasn't great for us, but we kept trying mentally," said Wooi Yik. "We didn't give up, we just fought for every point. This is the game, and we have to admit the Danes played better than us today (Wednesday). "They were fresher, physically stronger. But it's okay, we'll try again and we'll fight back." Although Aaron-Wooi Yik did not become the world number one pair, they have shown great performance during the past four weeks. They had played 16 matches in four different tournaments over a span of just four weeks and winning two out of it, is praise worthy. Aaron-Wooi Yik said they were motivated to win titles that had been difficult to achieve than to focus solely on reaching the top spot in the rankings. Added Aaron: "I think there's still room for improvement." "It's time for us to go back, get some rest, then return to training and prepare for the next tournament," said Aaron.