Malaysian doubles shuttler Aaron Chia reckoned high personal expectations set after reaching the 2019 All-England final put him and partner Soh Wooi Yik under unnecessary pressure ahead of a crucial Olympics qualification period.
Chia-Soh were relative unknowns until their gallant run at the All-England last March, which saw them upset the higher ranked Liu Cheng-Zhang Nan and Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto en route to the final.
In the final, the young Malaysians were outplayed by two-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan, who used their experience to recover from a game down and win 11-21, 21-14, 21-12.
The world number 14 pair were unable to replicate that form since.
"After the All-England, we set high expectations on ourselves [and] invited pressure on our own. That has resulted in our performances taking a dip.
"We set the bar too high, and now we are struggling to fulfill our expectations. It’s time we try to manage our goals and, at the same time work, on our weaknesses," said Chia when met during national training on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old also feels they caught the attention of other pairs after their All-England performance.
"Before that, we were new to the rest [of the players] and our gameplan worked well. But now they know us, and it’s more difficult to win matches.
"Every opponent has a different style, but at this point we need to be confident in our own game. We are doing our best to regain our consistency and build that winning momentum once again," he added.
Chia has yet to win an international title with Soh, with five runners-up finishes their best achievement so far.
Winning a maiden title is certainly on the cards for the Malacca-born player, but more importantly there is the tussle to make the 2020 Olympics grade.
Both Chia-Soh will compete at the upcoming Denmark Open (October 15-20), and French Open (October 22-27).
They will face team-mates Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi in the first round of the Denmark Open, and will do battle with Korea’s Choi Solgyu-Seo Seung-jae in the opening round in France.
"It will be fantastic if we can nick a title or two during this qualification period. If not, then making consistent quarter-finals is the bare minimum target," said Chia.
The Olympics qualification period runs until 26 April 2020, where the world top 16 pairs will qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
Nicolas Anil
Wed Oct 09 2019
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