It was a matter of playing it safe when the BA of Malaysia (BAM) registered Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik for five back-to-back tournaments, beginning with next week’s German Open.
The other four are the All England (Mar 11-15), Swiss Open (Mar 17-22), India Open (Mar 24-29) and the Malaysia Open (Mar 31-Apr 5).
According to BAM coaching director Wong Choong Hann, the move was necessary as Aaron-Wooi Yik have yet to secure an Olympic spot for the Tokyo Games.
BAM hope the pair will be able to collect as many ranking points before the end of the qualifying period in April.
“At this point in the race (to qualify for the Olympics), we don’t know what’s going to happen.
“If they play well and depending on their body condition, we have the option to skip a tournament or two,” said Choong Hann in Bukit Kiara yesterday.
The former international said BAM wouldn’t be too concerned if Aaron-Wooi Yik were currently in the top-six bracket of the Race to Tokyo rankings.
Unfortunately, that is not the case.
“We wouldn’t be so cautious if they were between No 4 and No 6 in the world.
“It’s a tactical move. Last year, China’s Zhang Nan played in about nine to 10 tournaments in a row.
“It’s not unusual but rare.
“Aaron-Wooi Yik are a few thousand points (4,361) ahead of their closest rivals, but we still want them to move up further.” Choong Hann added.
At last week’s Spain Masters, the Malaysians crashed out in the semi-finals after going down to eventual champions Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmusen of Denmark.
Currently, Aaron-Wooi Yik are ranked No 10, two rungs above Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong and five rungs above Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, in the Road to Tokyo list.
Each country can have a maximum of two pairs at the Olympics provided that both are in the top-eight bracket at the end of the qualification period.