Badminton

James urges BAM to take quick remedial action

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk James Selvaraj has urged the BA of Malaysia (BAM) to view doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah's drastic drop in form seriously and take quick remedial action.

The former BAM high performance director hopes BAM coaching director Rexy Mainaky will come up with a solution.

"Aaron-Wooi Yik's game has stagnated and there is no urgency in their performance. This is worrying as they are an experienced world top 10 pair and title hopefuls on the World Tour," said James.

"Something is not right with the way they have been approaching their matches and Rexy has to find a quick fix.

"They are not as offensive and sharp as they used to be when they played at the Olympics, and opponents have found it easier to beat them.

"Even when struggling with injuries, Aaron-Wooi Yik could still play at the highest level and win the world title in 2022, but that spark is missing from their game," added James.

World No. 6 Aaron-Wooi Yik have not been the same since winning the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics last August. They were also upstaged by Taiwan's world No. 27 Lee Fang Chih-Lee Fang Jen in the second round of the recent Malaysia Open.

Though Aaron-Wooi Yik managed to win the Korea Open Super 300 last year, they were unable to get past the quarter-final stage in Super 500, 750 and 1000 tournaments on the World Tour.

Aaron-Wooi Yik will try to make amends at the India Open which starts on Tuesday. They should beat Thailand's world No. 30 Sukphun Peeratchai-Pakapon Teeraratsakul in the first round, but are likely to face a stern test against Malaysian Open runners-up Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi of China.

James said Pearly-Thinaah, who fell to Indonesia's Lanny Tria Mayasari-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti in the first round, were not fighting like they used to, and it is definitely a cause for concern.

"Maybe lack of fitness and injuries have been affecting them.

"But we have to remember that our rivals are training hard and if we are not up to par, it will be difficult to challenge them on the t our."

At the India Open, Pearly-Thinaah should beat homesters Prerana Alvekar-Mrunmayee Deshpande (world No. 141) in the opening round, but danger awaits them in the second round in the form of China's Jia Yi Fan-Zhang Shu Xian who finished second at the Malaysia Open.

Meanwhile Rexy is well aware that Malaysian players have yet to win the Malaysia Open since he rejoined BAM in 2021.

The best results by local players at the Malaysia Open this time were reaching the semi-finals through mixed doubles Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai, and men's doubles Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun.

"The objective of winning the Malaysian Open in my second term as coach has not been achieved. We missed it this time again," said Rexy.

"We have to review our players' performance and step up our efforts to end the wait next year."

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