KUALA LUMPUR: National men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi denied that the declining performance of the 2025 Badminton Asia Championship (BAC) champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik was the reason for their defeat in the 2025 Sudirman Cup quarter-finals against Japan, recently.
On the contrary, he considered the national pair, ranked fourth in the world, to be unlucky when they lost to the 17th-ranked pair, Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi 21-12, 20-22, 21-23.
“The match result itself showed a tough competition. We won the first set then narrowly lost the next two sets.
“For me, it was more a ‘luck’ factor in the final points, not because their performance had declined,“ he told reporters after the national squad’s training session here today.
According to Herry, the selection of players was made collectively by the coaching staff and Aaron-Wooi Yik was fielded after taking into account the ‘champion aura’ even though the most recent meeting between the professional pair of Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Mohd Rumsani and the 2021 world champion was in favour of the national pair.
Meanwhile, regarding the latest performance of Aaron-Wooi Yik after undergoing intensive training under his supervision, Herry said the national pair had shown improvement but there was still room for improvement.
“Their playing style is different now, but the aspects of physical strength and attacking power, especially from the back of the court, still need to be improved,“ he said.
He said Aaron-Wooi Yik will next compete in the Thailand Open from May 13 to 18.
“They remain among the country’s main backups. With continued hard work, I am confident they will be able to bounce back and perform better in the upcoming tournament.
At the 2025 Sudirman Cup in Xiamen, China, Malaysia crashed out in the quarter-finals after losing to the hosts 0-3. Earlier, Malaysia emerged as the runner-up in Group C, losing 2-3 to Japan in the final group stage match.
