KUALA LUMPUR: They say the stats don't lie.
Men's doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are definitely on a downward spiral if you compare their results before and after winning the world title last year.
Aaron-Wooi Yik's dramatic decline showed no sign of abating when they were booted out by Taiwan's reigning Olympic gold medallists Lee Yang-Wang Chi Lin in the second round of the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC), which they were the runners-up last year. The Malaysians lost 14-21, 21-16, 21-19.
The world No 2 have now failed to make it past the last-16 stage in five of the seven events this year — a stark contrast to what they recorded from March-October last year.
During that seven-month period, Aaron-Wooi Yik finished no worse than the semi-finals in nine of their 10 outings.
Aaron-Wooi Yik's form started to take a nosedive following the first round defeat at the French Open.
They also failed to register a single win in the group stage of the World Tour Finals in Bangkok in December.
Aaron-Wooi Yik's best result so far this year was reaching the final of the India Open, but they did not manage to build on it.
Rexy, who was left fuming with the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists' poor showing during the European swing last month, took a softer stance this time despite yet another early elimination, noting that his charges had "done a lot better".
"Aaron and Wooi Yik performed better than they did in Europe. Whatever shortcomings arose last month, they managed to rectify them," said Rexy.
"In their match yesterday (against the Taiwanese), they played very well in the first game. But after that, poor decision-making cost them dearly. They were not firm and brave enough to withstand the pressure from their opponents.
"Aaron-Wooi Yik avoided taking the battle to the front court and were overly cautious. They took no initiative to quash their opponents' speed and powerful play."
As for the mixed doubles Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, who went down fighting 23-21, 18-21, 21-15 to former All England champions Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti of Indonesia, Rexy said it was a good learning curve for them.
"To their credit, they defeated world No 10 Kim Won Ho-Jeong Na Eun of South Korea in the first round.
"Yesterday, they could have handled the situation better against Praveen-Melati. However, it is alright because this is a process they have to go through as a rising pair."
SELECTED RESULTS
Second round
Men's singles: Lee Cheuk Yiu (Hkg) bt Shi Yu Qi (Chn) 21-18, 21-18; Loh Kean Yew (Sin) bt Bahadeen Ahmad Alshannik (Jor) 21-14, 21-14; Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) bt S. Srikanth (Ind) 21-14, 20-22, 21-9; Lu Guang Zu (Chn) bt Chou Tien Chen (Tai) 19-21, 21-14, 21-8; H. S. Prannoy (Ind) bt Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo (Ina) 21-16, 5-21, 21-18; Kanta Tsuneyama (Jpn) bt Angus Ng Ka Long (Hkg) 13-21, 21-19, 21-11; Li Shi Feng (Chn) Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) 21-13, 21-15; Anthony Ginting (Ina) bt Kenta Nishimoto (Jpn) 21-18, 21-17.
Doubles: Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto (Ina) bt Lee Jhe Huei-Yang Po Hsuan (Tai) 21-14, 21-12; Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (Mas) bt Ayato Endo-Yuta Takei (Jpn) 10-21, 21-15, 22-20; Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (Mas) 21-14, 11-3 rtd; Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) bt Ren Xiang Yu-Tan Qiang (Chn) 21-17, 22-20; Lee Yang-Wang Chi Lin (Tai) bt Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (Mas) 14-21, 21-16, 21-19.
Women's singles: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Sung Shuo Yun (Tai) 21-17, 21-13; Tai Tzu Ying (Tai) bt Natsuki Nidaira (Jpn) 21-18, 21-6; Chen Yu Fei (Chn) bt Aya Ohori (Jpn) 21-15, 21-15; P.V. Sindhu (Ind) bt Han Yue (Chn) 21-12, 21-15; An Se Young (Kor) bt Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Tha) 21-19, 21-16.
Doubles: Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan (Chn) bt Mellysa Trias Puspitasari-Rachel Allessya Rose (Ina) 21-9, 21-11; Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota (Jpn) bt Lee Yu Lim-Shin Sheung Chan (Kor) 21-12, 21-15; Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi (Ina) bt Kim So Yeong-Kong Hee Yong (Kor) 21-16, 21-16; Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara (Jpn) bt Zhang Shu Xian-Zheng Yu (Chn) 21-17, 20-22, 21-14.
Mixed doubles: Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong (Chn) bt Terry Hee-Jessica Tan (Sin) 21-13, 21-9; Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti (Ina) bt Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (Mas) 23-21, 18-21, 21-15; Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie (Mas) bt Cheng Xing-Chen Fang Hui (Chn) 12- 21, 22-20, 21-15.