KUALA LUMPUR: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik can forget about winning a medal at the Paris Olympics if they continue playing like they did in the second round of the All England yesterday.
The world No. 5 men's pair nearly lost in scraping past Taiwan's lower ranked Chang Ko Chi-Po Li Wei 21-18, 24-22 in Birmingham.
While they may feel good to reach the All England quarter-finals again after four years, Aaron-Wooi Yik's performance was far from convincing.
With the Olympics just four months away, the former world champions admitted they have plenty to work on.
"We had expected a tough match against the Taiwanese pair, having played them before.
"We should have been more consistent with our shots, but instead, didn't look steady at all.
"We must buck up and try to regain the momentum," Wooi Yik told the Badminton World Federation in a post-match interview.
While they have only one World Tour title (2023 Denmark Open) to show for, Aaron-Wooi Yik have always risen to the occasion in major events.
Apart from capturing the 2019 Sea Games gold and winning the 2022 World Championships, Aaron-Wooi Yik have managed a podium finish at the Olympics (Tokyo 2020) and Asian Games (Hangzhou 2022).
However, they have struggled in Open tournaments, especially when facing the top four pairs in the world.
But at the way things are going, they will face an uphill task in climbing into the Olympic podium in June.
National coach Tan Bin Shen said Aaron-Wooi Yik need to develop more confidence in their game.